


Alchemy and Amour

by PastelMess



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Alternate Universe - Magic, Hogwarts Sixth Year, Hufflepuff!Josh, M/M, Minor Violence, Ravenclaw!Mark, Slytherin!Tyler, There are a combination of old and new teachers, Wizards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 06:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 26,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9111088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastelMess/pseuds/PastelMess
Summary: Tyler Joseph, a pureblood, is popular at Hogwarts; after all, he's the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team and the best damn seeker Slytherin has ever had (in his opinion at least.)Joshua Dun, a muggleborn, is not popular at Hogwarts; he keeps to himself, does his homework, and follows the rules like a good Hufflepuff should (and he's damn good at ignoring stupid insults.)Strangely enough, the unlikely pair are not only best friends, but lovers, hiding their relationship between secrets and mischief.However, Tyler's got a secret of his own, and it just might lead to the downfall of the entire school.





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [marsakat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsakat/gifts), [rainbowsandgucci](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowsandgucci/gifts).



> Here I am with a Hogwarts au of my own. Shoutout to Mars and Amber for helping me brainstorm ideas and research stuff for this story. 
> 
> So this is going to be two parts, it was too damn long to be a one shot like I originally intended. Second part will be posted tomorrow night. If you have questions I'll try and answer them. If you wanna yell at me for something that inaccurate or wrong or whatever, go ahead. I tried to make everything as accurate as possible and I did a hell of a lot of research (Four pages full of notes to be exact) but I usually miss something. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Light streams in through large, stained windows in the early hours of the morning as a tall, lanky boy darts down the corridor, his sleek black robe swishing at his ankles. With a sigh, he picks up his pace, rounding a corner and forcing down a yawn. He’s tired, using scabbed knuckles to rub at his eyes, but Tyler is used to waking up early. He’s done it for years now, just so he can spend more time with Josh.

Besides the fact that Josh is, well, a _guy,_ he’s also in a different house than Tyler, which makes their relationship a tad bit complicated (Of course, among other things.) It’s the complications that helped them learn how to sneak around to see one another over the years.

Josh, in Tyler’s opinion, is perhaps the most beautiful person he has ever laid eyes on. He’s only a couple inches shorter, with broad shoulders, a sloped nose, almond shaped eyes and thick, shaggy brown hair that curls at the ends when it gets too long. He talks about dying it all kinds of wacky colours, but knows at a prestigious boarding school like Hogwarts, the high table would not appreciate it as much as him. (Josh has thought of all kinds of ways to get away with it, his best lying about it being some kind of charm. He would never go through with it, though.) Josh is kind, and hardworking, and dedicated, and Tyler would trust Josh with his life. There’s not a bad bone in Josh’s body. Above all though, Tyler’s favourite thing about Josh is his eyes.

Josh’s eyes are the colour of chocolate covered coffee beans, the colour of espresso with fancy foam designs, and they shimmer when the light hits just right. Josh is real humble too, always blushing when Tyler compliments him on anything. Tyler remembers the first time he had spoken to Josh. It had been their first year, their first day actually. September 1st.

Josh had sat across from Tyler on the train, and for a majority of the ride, neither had uttered a word, the only conversation coming from the pair next to them. Tyler had felt like the odd guy out, mostly because he was American, and everyone else here was about as British as you could possibly get. He was a pureblood, born to two extravagant parents, who worked with the Ministry of Magic as ambassadors from the MACUSA. Tyler, eleven at the time, really had no clue what exactly they did, but he had lived in London a good majority of his life, moving to the city at an early age all the way from Columbus, Ohio. His parents had grown up in England, so being back was very refreshing to them. To him, it was very entertaining seeing the faces of witches and wizards twist into confusion at the mention of a state that was not California or New York.

And although his parents were hard at work doing their “work stuff,” Tyler loved his family. He had two brothers, Zack and Jay, and one sister, Maddy, and the lot of them were playful and cooperative with one another. Sure, they got in fights with one another, but most were nothing more than banter that ended in smiles when Tyler caused a flower to grow twice its size or Zack would end up sticking to the wall.

Tyler knew everything there was to know about the wizarding world, enough that when he got his letter in the mail from Hogwarts, his family celebrated.

“You’ll be a Gryffindor just like your old man, I just know it,” his father said, clasping him on the shoulder. Tyler had beamed, his heart soaring the day they went to Diagon Alley to collect all his stuff.

The two British kids that wouldn’t stop talking looked over to Josh, (or as Tyler, not knowing his name at the time, referred to him as ghost, because he was p-a-l-e pale,) and asked him some question related to their conversation. Tyler hadn’t really been paying attention to know what the heck they were talking about in the first place.

“What house you think you’ll get put in?”

Josh shrugged limply, his sweater two times too big for him. He hadn’t changed into his robes yet. “I dunno. Haven’t really thought about it much.”

Both the kids eyes lit up in surprise, the shorter one with sandy hair exclaiming, “Blimey, are both of you Americans?”

Tyler’s eyes had been wide as well. Another American kid? He wasn’t going to be alone!

“Erhm,” Josh’s hands fidgeted in his lap, his knee shaking like it had the whole trip. “I guess. My mom works for this big corporation wanting to extend into Europe, so we’ve been living there for like five years now.”

“Is your mum a muggle?”

Josh blinked. “What?”

“No-maj?” Tyler translated for him. Josh still looked confused, so Tyler simplified things even more. “Somebody who isn’t a wizard.”

“Oh. Uh, yeah.”

“What about your father?”

“He’s uh, an artist.”

The sandy haired kid gasped, his nose scrunching up in mild disgust. “You... you’re a mudblood!”

The girl slapped him gently on the knee. “Don’t use that kind of language! Being muggle-born doesn’t mean you got anything wrong with you.”

“My cousin’s a witch if that means anything,” Josh spoke up from his corner, not even slightly insulted. Tyler assumed it was because he didn’t know the venom behind the statement. “I think my great grandmother might have been as well.”

“Exactly,” the girl said, “he’s still got magic running through his veins.” She turned towards Josh and smiled. “What was your name again?”

“Josh,” he said softly.

“Don’t worry Josh, you’ll learn everything there is to know at this school. Just hope you get Gryffindor. My parents say that’s the best house.”

“Sure,” Josh had nodded, turning back towards the window. The girl and the boy with the sandy hair melted back into their conversation about class, but this time Tyler was preoccupied by the brown haired boy across from him.

That hadn’t been the end of their conversation either, because Tyler had sat down next to Josh as they crossed an icy lake in small rowboats, and even as they had gathered in the Great Hall awaiting the sorting ceremony. Tyler learned that Josh had two sisters and a brother, the exact opposite of Tyler, who were much, much younger. He also learned that Josh was very musically talented, building his own drumkit in his bedroom out of paint cans and scotch tape.

“If it weren’t for the fact that I’m a wizard, I don’t think the tape would be doing a good job of holding everything together,” he admitted sheepishly. Tyler grinned, infatuated, (even though he had no clue what a drumkit was.)

The two listened intently as a professor (once again, Tyler hadn’t been listening closely enough to catch his name. He thought it started with an F) explained the houses of the school and how the ceremony would work.

“Better pray to God you aren’t a Hufflepuff,” one of the first years whispered. Tyler rolled his eyes and nudged Josh gently.

“All the pure of heart people are Hufflepuffs. My mom was one. They aren’t bad at all,” he promised. Josh swallowed nervously and nodded his head.

Almost as if it was fate, Josh had ended up in the Hufflepuff house, as Tyler would later learn fit him perfectly. Tyler himself however, had ended up with a little bit of an anticlimactic experience.

“An American, huh?” the hat whispered in his ear as Tyler stared at the dusty inside where the brim had slid over his eyes. “We always get a few of you every school year. Usually less, on account of Ilvermorny, but your parents are pretty wicked, aren’t they? A Gryffindor an’ a Hufflepuff, what an interesting pair. There’s something in you that feels strange. Potential maybe? I feel like you have potential to do something...” the hat trails off. “Nevermind that. You’re talented, smart, and ooh, quite ambitious, aren’t you? You’ll take care of your kind, I can see that.” there was a brief pause before the sorting hat shouted, “SLYTHERIN!” sending Tyler stumbling off the chair like an idiot. His tongue felt swollen as he made his way to the cheering Slytherin table where he was greeted with handshakes and pats on the back.

Tyler knew this was the house had that the most dark wizards. He knew this was where the _evil_ people went. What did the hat mean anyways, about him having potential? Potential to do what? How could he have been put into a house of evil when his father came from bravery and his mother from loyalty?

The sorting hat was never wrong, and Tyler’s gut had clenched.

Now, five years later, in his second to last year at Hogwarts, Tyler’s _proud_ to be a Slytherin. He knows who he is as a person, and his parents had even been okay with it. They had been wary at first, but Tyler had expected that.

“There is nothing wrong with being a Slytherin,” his mother had told him when he had come home for Christmas break that same year. “Every house has their fair share of dark witches and wizards. And you sweetheart, you are brilliant and creative, just like most Slytherins. I had friends that were Slytherins. Your father had friends that were Slytherins. It doesn’t make you a bad person. You guys got reputation, and destined for greatness nonetheless.” she kissed his forehead and chuckled when Tyler groaned.

He was nice to everyone that was nice to him, and Tyler was the best damn seeker the Slytherin house ever had (okay, maybe not true, but he still thought he was pretty damn good.) So yeah. He was fine.

Josh is in his usual place, sitting at the bottom of a long, marble staircase. He looks up at Tyler with the sound of approaching footsteps and grins, adjusting his striped yellow tie tucked away under his robes. “Hey, stranger.”

“Hey to you too, stranger,” Tyler grins as he drops down next to Josh and slips an arm around his shoulders, burying his slender fingers in the baby hairs at the nape of Josh’s neck. Josh lets out a small yelp as Tyler kisses him, knocking his back against the handrail of the staircase. Tyler grins, pushing harder, using his other hand to bunch up the hood of his robe. Josh moans.

“Damn Tyler, I love you,” he mumbles, tilting his chin up as Tyler’s lips slid down to the skin right under his jaw. “Right there, right there.”

A low whistle splits the two apart, Tyler’s collar crooked as he wipes his mouth with the back of his head and looks up at the beady eyes of the Bloody Baron.

Tyler knows “Mr. Baron” doesn’t talk very much, so he’s praying he won’t say anything. “Hey.”

The ghost raises an eyebrow, a glint in his eye as a small smirk rises to his lips. Tyler sighs.

“I remember young love,” Baron says. Josh looks terrified. “Might want to take some more safety precautions, hmm?” One smile later, he floats through a wall and disappears. Josh still looks scared, his eyebrows knitted together and his shoulders tense. Tyler leans forward to rest a hand on his shoulder and squeezes gently.

“He’s not gonna tell anyone J. Promise. He barely talks to his own house; he isn’t going to talk to anyone else.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.” Tyler grins as he leans forward to kiss Josh’s cheek. He smooths out the wrinkles in Josh’s robe, fixes his collar, and stands up, offering him a hand. “He’s right though. Maybe the staircase isn’t the best idea. It might be time to find another place.”

With a sigh, Josh reaches out to fix Tyler’s own clothes, his fingers running over the coarse fabric of his forest green tie and the inside of his hood. He’s always been a little jealous that Tyler got to wear green and he was stuck with yellow.

“We could try the dungeons.”

Tyler snorts. “That’s where the Slytherin common room is.”

“There’s other places. I’ll think of something.” Josh smiles. “Any time with you is time well spent.”

“We have our opening game on Friday, you gonna come watch?”

“Of course I will. Just don’t lose the cup this time, okay?” Josh laughs and ducks as Tyler swats a hand his way. “Okay, sorry. I know you’re the bestest seeker there is.”

“Damn right,” Tyler exclaims, trailing his fingers over Josh’s hand. It’s cold and dry, quite like the weather. “I’ll see you after breakfast, okay? We can go for a walk ‘round the castle.”

“I’d like that,” Josh nods, slipping his hands away from underneath Tyler’s fingers. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

-

After a large breakfast, (Tyler hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he was on his fourth omelette,) Tyler meets Josh outside, grinning when he finds him picking grass out of the ground. The sun shines high, but there’s still a frigid chill in the air. Tyler isn’t really surprised; after all, it is November. “Hey.”

Josh picks himself off the ground with a smile and fixes his coat and scarf. “You seemed hungry.”

“Yeah dude, I didn’t even realize how hungry I was until I sat down. Mad, huh?” Tyler twirls his wand between his fingers as he starts walking down the path, Josh trailing after him. It’s  blackthorn wood, 11 3/4 inches, with phoenix feathers and minimal flexibility. Tyler has some weird connection with it, something he just _can’t_ explain. The man at the wand shop had told him it was a normal thing. He had also told Tyler to “be careful, because blackthorn is not only rare, but susceptible to the dark arts.”

No wonder he had been put in Slytherin.

“Here,” Tyler pauses, holding his hand out in front of Josh as he flicks his wand upwards and watches a row of daisies grow across the barren landscape. Josh rolls his eyes as Tyler picks a few and puts them in his hands.

“Nerd.”

Tyler laughs. “I try. Hey, whatcha got today?”

“Herbology with the Ravenclaws. Mark told me he’s thrilled.” Josh scoffs, picking the petals off the flowers as they walk. Mark was a friend of theirs, another American believe it or not, a half blood who was more interested in modern day technology than magic. He had withdrawals at the start of every school year without his phone or computer, but for some reason really took an interest to all the boring subjects, like plants. “I don’t understand how he can think that plants are... _interesting._ Like, I understand that they’re dangerous and all, but I don’t get it.”

“Well Josh, you didn’t _have_ to take an advanced herbology class you know.”

Josh pouts. “I know. I’m good at it, that’s the problem.”

“Well, I’ve got potions after this with the Gryffindors. Absolutely annoying in my opinion that we’re always with them. They all seem to think we’re evil or something. Plus it always makes me think of my dad. I know it’s been a few years, and my parents seem fine with the fact that I am a Slytherin, I just, I feel like my dad wishes I was a Gryffindor like him, you know? And you know, my brother, Zack, he’s a second year Gryffindor and the pair are always talking about classes and schedules and Quidditch and all this stuff that he never discusses with me. I know it only happens over break and they’re only trying to catch up, but still.”

Josh stops in the middle of the path, letting all his flower petals fall to the dirt below, and pulls Tyler into a hug. “Your parents love you.”

“I know that J.”

“I think you’re perfect the way you are.” Chapped lips press a kiss to rough stubble on Tyler’s jaw, fingers trailing only shortly behind. Tyler can’t grow enough facial hair for a beard or anything, not yet anyways, but it’s always rough and comforting. “We can’t all have the same personality. That’d be boring.”

Tyler chuckles a little as he pulls away, still rolling his wand between his fingers. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Lose your head is what you’d do,” Josh beams, winking, before he takes off running, his robes billowing out from behind him. Tyler chases him in laughter, pointing his wand playfully as he mutters _“Confundo,”_ under his breath and Josh trips over his own feet, rolling in the grass a few times before blinking. Tyler is quick to straddle him, a smirk on his face as he continues to twirl his wand proudly.

“You did not just do that.”

“Had to stop you somehow, huh?” he bends down to kiss Josh, but this time it’s a lot more passionate than this morning. They’re secluded, hidden by trees, lost in cold grass with nothing but each other for company. Tyler wishes it could always be like this. He wishes he didn’t have to go to his dorm, in his house, without Josh by his side. He wishes Josh could come with him everywhere, could be there sleeping next to him. He wishes he could tell his parents more about Josh besides the fact that they were friends. (They didn’t see each other much over the summer break. Josh’s family usually traveled, leaving Tyler to pout and settle with video call.)

“You’re thinking,” Josh whispers, padding fingertips behind Tyler’s ear. With a grunt, Tyler rolls off of the older boy and lets the cold sink into him.

“Nothing important. Only wishes.” Tyler smiles, not wanting to bother Josh with anything that might worry or make him upset. “Hey, I just remembered something I was thinking about the other day.”

Josh is frowning still, obviously still upset Tyler was keeping something from him, but he humours Tyler anyway. “Huh?”

With a smug grin, Tyler sits up, pointing his wand at the brunette’s head, and seconds later red sparks come shooting out, sending Josh scurrying away. He coughs a few times, expression melting into annoyance. “Jesus Tyler, what are you doing?”

Tyler chuckles, smoothing out his robe as Josh runs a hand through his hair. His bright _green_ hair. “I appreciate your support for my house Josh, but you really should be more supportive of your own.”

Josh’s nostrils flare. _“What?”_ he’s running again in seconds, Tyler chasing after him, still laughing, calling out that “he looks good in green,” but by now Josh does not believe him. Other students whisper amongst themselves as Josh barrels back into the hall and down to the restroom. He gasps the minute he catches his appearance in the mirror.

“You _charmed_ me?”

“You said you wanted to see what your hair looked like when it was a different colour, so... you’re welcome.”

Josh turns back towards the mirror and leans forward a little, tucking a green curl behind his ear. “It’s not... bad.”

“Nah. You look good actually. I like it. Matches my house colours.”

“You’re such an ass,” Josh mutters, pivoting on his heel to leave with his robe fluttering behind him for pure dramatic effect (If Tyler had to guess; Josh was quite the drama queen.) Tyler sniggers, following him once more, because messing with Josh is his favourite thing to do. His face always got all squinty when he was annoyed.

The two round a corner, and run right into Professor Flitwick, the boy’s Charms teacher. He grins, crossing his arms, while Josh’s cheeks blossom into a dark shade of red and he ducks his head to avoid eye contact.

“Boys, what is going on here? Why is your hair green?” the short man scoffs, the realization coming to him. “Ahh, _Colovaria._ Mr. Joseph, care to explain?”

“Nothing but a joke sir. I can fix it.”

Professor Flitwick shakes his head, obviously irritated, and with a wave of his hand all the green drains away back to dark brown. “Five points deducted from Slytherin, let’s keep things a bit more professional, shall we? At least, during the school day.” with a wink, the professor waddles away, leaving Tyler with a toothy grin and Josh the colour of strawberries.

“Worth it,” Tyler says.

Josh rolls his eyes.

-

“Tyler, this is not smart, you know I’m not allowed in here-”

“Josh don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

“Tyler, I don’t believe you.” Josh tugs away, twisting his fingers together. “There’s going to be _people_ in there, other Slytherins, they’re going to notice I’m not-”

“Josh.” Tyler grabs ahold of Josh’s shoulders and shakes gently. “I know what I’m doing. You trust me, right?”

“Of course I do.” his eyes wander around the damp walls of the dungeon before settling on Tyler’s warm face.

“This is much better than sneaking around the corridors. You heard the ghost. Besides, no one ever said we couldn’t invite others in. It’s probably like a social contact or something.”

“I don’t know, I still don’t feel good about this Ty.”

“Alright then, fine.” Tyler unbuttons his cloak and thrusts it into Josh’s shaking hands. “There, now no one will ever know. ‘Sides J, everyone’s at dinner. No one is going to be in here.”

His shoulders sag. “I guess you’re right. Someone could still be in there though-”

Tyler drowns out Josh’s worry long enough to say the password, and the slick stones move gracefully, arranging a passway for the pair to cross through. Tyler slips his hand around Josh’s wrist and yanks him through the doorway, Josh squeaking in surprise.

“You haven’t even given me a chance to put on your cloak!”

“It’s a loophole Josh, I found a loophole. Six years here and nobody has ever exactly come into other common rooms, now have they? Now I know of two times someone’s come in, there was the time with the polyjuice potion in ‘92 here in my common room, and another in the Ravenclaw. I’ve always wondered what that common room looks like; how Mark explains it, I assume there’s a lot of blue.” Tyler shakes his head, his brow furrowed in concentration now that he’s thinking about it. “Anyways, don’t you think the founders would have put more security over the entrances if they really minded? You know the password now, you can get in. So even if we get caught, we can’t get in trouble because there isn’t a rule.”

“You’ve thought hard about this, haven’t you?” Josh asks, still frowning. Tyler nods.

“Yes. Welcome, by the way.” Tyler gestures to the room in front of them with his whole arm, a smirk sliding comfortably back onto his face as Josh gapes, quite like the younger boy had done his first year. Partially hidden underneath the lake, the room has a mysterious, green tint to it, which brings relaxation to Tyler every time he steps foot in the vast space. Green tapestries adorn the room, as well as dark, mahogany wooden cabinets, velvet green chairs, and leather couches. Josh trails his fingers over the serpent carved into the fireplace mantle and looks up at the large, smiling portrait of the Slytherin head Horace Slughorn. The Potions teacher waves, and disappears out the frame.

“Wow, this place is... interesting,” Josh says, bunching up the fabric of Tyler’s cloak in his hand. Tyler shrugs.

“It’s cozy. At night you can hear the water swishing. It’s relaxing, to me at least.” He cocks an eyebrow at Josh’s unamused face. “What? Your pansy Hufflepuff common room better?”

Josh huffs. “Uh, _yeah._ It’s warm, and bright, and yellow.”

“Pfft. Lame.”

“Shut up Tyler. I _like_ it there. And unlike you, not a single non-Hufflepuff has entered in centuries. We follow the rules.”

“Well, there isn’t a rule, so I’m not breaking anything. Come on now, if you don’t wanna get caught.” he moves deeper into the common room, leading Josh down a dark hallway lit with torches. When the two approach the door at the end of the hallway, Tyler winks, and pushes in. The room’s round, ancient four post beds with green silk hangings laid around the edge. Tyler leads Josh to the bed farthest away from the door, right next to a window with greenish water swirling around. He sits down and pats the spot next to him. “Sometimes I see the squid. That thing is huge.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

“What can you see from your window?”

“Uhhh...” Josh’s face turns red, “Dandelions.”

Tylers lets out a bark and falls onto his back. “Dandelions. I love it. Josh, you’re perfect.”

“Nah,” Josh replies, flopping down next to the younger boy. The two of them stare up at the ceiling. “How were your classes?”

“Fine. I still have a crapton of homework to get finished. Hey, at least we have Defense Against the Dark Arts together tomorrow.”

“Maybe we can get paired up again,” Josh’s grin widens, making his eyes all crinkly, and Tyler’s heart swoons. He often wonders how he got so lucky.

“One can hope.”

“Hey uhm,” Josh rolls over to prop himself up on his elbow, “remember earlier, when you changed my hair colour? Did you actually like it?”

“Of course I did. I’d like to see it different colours maybe, some day.”

“Me too. I think maybe, after we graduate, I might do that, permanently. Kinda scary thinking about the future, huh?”

Tyler shrugs. “I feel like I’ll sort of just follow my parents around. I’d like to do more than that, though. Like, invent spells. Experiment further with magic. I get good enough marks, I understand this stuff, so who knows.”

“I’d like to teach Astronomy,” Josh says, beaming, and his enthusiasm lights up the dark room. “Either be a professor here or go over to Ilvermorny. I miss the states.”

“I don’t remember much about them, honestly. Just that it was cold. I lived in Ohio, so it wasn’t anything thrilling.”

“I like it here. A lot, actually. Finding out I had been a wizard had kind of been a slap in the face.” Tyler remembers the story Josh had told him all those years ago. He thought he had been an alien adopted by human parents. When he was too lazy to get up to get something, sometimes the object with just... appear in his bed. During Christmas one year, he had knocked the Christmas tree down just by thinking about it. And another time, he touched a dead flower, and it swelled back with life. Getting that letter had been the best thing to happen to him. Josh’s parents had been confused, until some diving into their family lineage revealed things they hadn’t even know. Josh had been lucky his parents had been so supportive.

Tyler also remembers that Josh had brought muggle pens to school instead of quills, and someone from the Hufflepuff house had been nice enough to share, unlike everyone else who just laughed. Josh’s face had been the reddest Tyler had ever seen that day.

The two would spend every minute they could talking, usually meeting in the library, unlocked classrooms, or the gardens. Growing up knowing he was a wizard, hearing Josh’s stories about the things he did, the games he played, his hobbies, was quite weird to Tyler. But he supposed the stories he told Josh were just as weird.

“I like it here too. Mostly because you’re here with me.” Josh clucks his tongue at Tyler’s cheesy remark, but doesn’t pull away when Tyler leans forward to kiss him. Tyler’s kisses are soft, gentle, and make Josh feel warm, like he’s laying on a beach out in the sun. His fingers move quick, loosening Josh’s tie, unbuttoning his cloak, trying to remove layers, just to touch skin. They’ve never done anything more than kissing, per Josh’s privacy, and Tyler is perfectly okay with that. Josh’s happiness is what matters to him the most.

“I love you,” Josh says after a few minutes, his voice breathy. Tyler hums against his lips, his fingers clenching over his shoulder. “Breaking the rules was totally worth it.”

“You weren’t breaking any rules though,” Tyler fights back, his grip tightening. Josh pulls apart long enough to look him in the eyes and scowl.

“Sounds like something a Slytherin would say.”

“You got me.” the corners of Josh’s lips tilt into a smile, and he dives back in to kiss Tyler once more. The two aren’t sure how long it lasts; they lose track of time, and come to their senses right as stomping echoes throughout the hallway and the door to the boy’s dorm is thrown open. Josh barely has enough time to drop to the floor and hide under the bed before a group of Slytherin boys enter. Tyler settles himself back against his pillow and slides his hands behind his head, trying to look casual. He knows his robes and tie are a bit askew though.

“Why weren’t you at dinner, Tyler?” asks a tall, skinny boy named James. He has a hooked nose and a large mole on his cheek. He sort of reminds Tyler of a crow.

“Wasn’t hungry. I’ve been feeling sorta sick today actually.”

“Do you need someone to take you to the infirmary?”

“Nah, I’m probably just going to sleep it off. I’m sure I’ll feel better in the morning.” he flashes a fake smile and buries under his blankets, turning on his side to let the boys know he’s really ready to go to bed. The boys are all laughing, grabbing stuff out of their trunks and off their beds.

“Alright, we’ll see you later Joseph.” After a few more minutes of scurrying footsteps and the boys are gone, plunging the room into darkness. Tyler leans over the edge and grins when he sees Josh poke his head out.

“That was a close one,” Josh whispers, pulling himself out from under the bed. He buttons up his shirt, tightens his tie, and fixes his robes. “A _really_ close one. I dunno if this was a good idea-”

“Josh.” Tyler’s slid off the bed at this point and threaded his fingers with Josh’s to stop him from worrying. “You worry too much.”

Josh sighs. “I know.”

“We’re fine, okay? We’ll find a new place if you want. Just, I’m kind of getting tired of having to find new places for us to sneak around.”

“I know. I just, I don’t want to get expelled.”

“Josh, we aren’t going to get expelled for being in a relationship.”

“People are going to say things, you know that. We’ll get points taking away for sneaking around, we might not even be able to talk again if people found out, if our parents found out, if-”

“Then no one finds out. There’s spells I know, spells that can make people forget. No one is going to find out, I promise.”

“Alright then. I trust you. I’m sorry for worrying all the time.”

“It’s okay Josh. I know it’s just who you are.” Tyler smiles, runs his hands down Josh’s arms, and presses a small kiss to his lips. Josh relaxes. “Alright, let’s get you back to your own house.” They walk out of the boy’s dormitory and through the common room, all the way to the entrance.

“I’ll see you in class tomorrow, okay? We can go study at the library later, if you want.”

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

-

“Ugh, the amount of homework I have is absolutely _ridiculous.”_ Josh scowls as drops his books onto the table. Tyler peers over at him from the essay he’s currently writing for his Transfiguration class.

“You know you’d be so more less stressed if you dropped Astronomy. It’s kind of a pointless class-”

“Oh shut up Tyler.” Josh rolls his eyes, but there’s a smile on his face. “You know I love this stuff.”

“I know, I know.” he drums his fingers on the tabletop and sighs before picking up his quill again. “I’ve got a paper due tomorrow in Transfiguration. I have the introduction written and that’s about it. This sucks.”

“Hmm, let me see.” Josh reaches over to grab Tyler’s paper, right as Mark sits down next to him. Mark looks cheery, his bright blue tie nice against the contrast of his pale skin.

“Hey guys.”

“Mark,” Tyler nods, leaning back against his chair. With the three of them being the only Americans at Hogwarts, (that they knew of, at least, and okay, Tyler's brother does not count) the trio had developed a pretty good friendship over the years, despite being in different houses. To most, their friendship was odd. Most friendships were developed inside with their own people. And it wasn’t like they didn’t have friends inside their own houses; Tyler had a great bond with the entire Slytherin Quidditch team, (After all, he was the captain,) one of his closest friends being a kid named Dan Smith, the keeper for the team. In the end though, Mark and Josh were who he turned to for everything.

“You guys look loaded down. Tyler, you didn’t finish that paper days ago?” Mark was also kind of an overachiever, which made sense with him being a Ravenclaw and all.

“No Mark, I didn’t.”

“Tough luck man. That’s what you get for procrastinating.” Mark grins, and Tyler rolls his eyes. Josh continues to read.

“Tyler, your introduction is really strong.”

“Thank you Josh.” Tyler shoots Mark a glare.

“What’d you write your paper about?”

“Bird conjuring.”

Mark blows a raspberry and drags his words out nice and slow. “Booooorrrriiiinnnggg.”

“Shut up Mark, you like plants.” Josh peers at the Ravenclaw boy over the top of Tyler’s paper, his eyes narrowed, and Mark shuts up.

When Tyler gets his paper back, he opens up a textbook and continues writing while Josh starts to pull out stuff from his Astronomy class. Mark watches, pretending to be bored, as he wiggles his wand between his fingers and picks out dirt from underneath his nails. Annoyed, Tyler puts down his quill again and looks back up.

“Hey Mark, what’s the Ravenclaw tower look like?”

“None of your business,” Mark replies without looking up. “Do your paper.”

“Then get out of here.”

Mark grumbles, but seconds later he’s up, strolling through the library and out the door. Tyler settles comfortably knowing Mark the nuisance is gone.

“You don’t need to be so rude to him you know,” Josh mumbles, finally opening his textbook and smoothing out a scroll of paper. “I know he’s a know-it-all, but he is our friend.”

“I’m just trying to concentrate J, or else I’m not going to finish this paper. You know how stressed I already am. We have the opening game tomorrow, and we’re playing Gryffindor. With all the practicing I’ve been doing, I haven’t had much time for homework.”

“And you’re going to do great Ty, just as you have before. You’re the captain man, people love you. You take care of your team.”

That gets Tyler to smile. “Thanks. Man, I can’t wait to beat those bastards. You know my brother’s on the team this year? Little turd tried to keep it a secret that he’s their new seeker, but rumours spread fast.” he shakes his head. “Idiot brother.”

“Be a little nicer Tyler, he is your brother after all.” Josh looks up from his textbook, where he had been watching a picture of the solar system move in circles. “Honestly though, I hope you beat Gryffindor too. They’ve been quite rude to us lately. There is nothing wrong with being a Hufflepuff, honestly.” with a shake of his head, Josh goes back to reading. “Now do your paper Tyler, I know what you’re doing. Quit procrastinating.”

Tyler only grumbles under his breath.

-

The next morning, Tyler is nervous beyond all belief. He usually is, the day of a game.

He’s wearing his lucky green socks and nervously picking at some toast with jam. He gets nudged in the stomach.

“Eat,” Dan says. Tyler scowls.

“Everything is iced over out there.”

“We’re going to do fine. Why am I the one telling you this?”

“You can be captain when I leave Dan.”

“Not how it works Joseph. Now eat and quit flipping out.” Tyler scowls again.

By half past ten, everyone is out in the pitch, settling in the stands. It’s freezing outside, everyone in at least three layers, gathered with those from their own house (with of course the exception of Mark and Josh, sitting next to each other.)

The Slytherin team files into the locker room to change into their green robes. Tyler feels a bit better, and more confident as he looks around at his teammate’s faces.

“We’re going to beat those bastards,” he says, starting off some speech, as most look towards the captain to usually do, “And win the House Cup. We are not losing to the Gryffindors again, not like last year. We got a great team, and we will do whatever it takes,” Tyler pounds his fist into his other hand, “to win.”

The boys cheer, and minutes later, they walk onto the field to face their crimson opponents. Tyler spots Zack nervously looking around the pitch and scoffs a little. This is going to be too easy.

He also catches Josh, standing on his tiptoes, with a large grin, his yellow scarf charmed to flicker green for only a few seconds at a time, far too fast for anyone to catch if they simply were to blink. Tyler’s heart feels warm, and he feels even more confident. They weren’t going to lose to stupid Gryffindors, not on his watch.

The flying teacher, Madam Johnson, was the game’s referee. She was an older woman, with long brown hair tied back into a ponytail. Tyler remembers his first flying lesson with her. She spent hours drowning on about the now retired Madam Hooch and everything that “brave woman” did for Hogwarts. She was nice, don’t get him wrong, but... Tyler’s sort of glad he hasn’t had a class with her since. It was enough for him to have Madam Johnson referee.

“Okay now everyone, I want a fair game, and I want no one to get hurt.” She glances over at the Slytherin team, to which Tyler rolls his eyes. He knows his team is more than well known for causing their fair share of problems.

She calls for them to mount their brooms, which Tyler happily complies, mounting his Firebolt Supreme he had received as a Christmas gift his fourth year of Hogwarts. Tyler catches his brother’s eye, and smiles a toothy, chilling grin. Zack gulps, looking towards the ground and away from his older brother.

The whistle blows, and Tyler shoots up into the air, higher, higher, higher, until he feels like he’s in the clouds. Cold air hits his face and his eyes dart around, looking for the snitch.

The commentator, a fifth year Ravenclaw called Jimmy Wood, (Or Woody, as everyone calls him,) begins narrating the game.

“And both teams are off, the Quaffle immediately taken by Gryffindor chaser Ethan Cunningham - wait, no - holy cow, Slytherin now have the Quaffle, nice pass to Lucas Knox, who aims to score, and OOOH! A solid block from Keeper Veronica Ott!”

Tyler tunes out Woody, flying a little higher, squinting for any sign of gold. There’s a _whoosh_ of air next to him, and he tilts his broomstick downwards just fast enough to avoid getting knocked off by a bludger.

“Sorry Tyler!” shouts Jake Graves, one of the Slytherin Beaters. Tyler watches him zoom after the bludger, and focuses back on the grey sky.

Down in the stands, Josh squints, trying to watch Tyler, although most of the game is going on lower to the ground.

“Gryffindor’s got the quaffle now, Max Donahue coming in quickly, he shoots, and it’s blocked by Slytherin Keeper Dan Smith - bloody hell, that’s gotta hurt, - Gryffindor Chaser Katie Riley gets hit in the elbow with the bludger sent her way by Jake Graves! Knox shoots, Keeper Ott dives, and AHH! FOLKS, SLYTHERIN SCORES!”

Josh cheers with the rest of the Slytherins, although his is much quieter, hoping not to draw too much attention. He leans back and looks over at Mark. “You know, there’s a lot of fault I find in this game. Like the fact there’s no time limit, the point system in general, don’t even get me started, and people can get seriously injured if someone’s too rough-”

“Josh, hush. I don’t want to hear any of your weird No-Maj stuff right now; watch the game.” Mark raises his old pair of binoculars back to his eyes and leans forward. Josh pouts, and goes back to looking for Tyler.

Tyler, who grins at the mention of his team scoring, and zips even higher into the air for nothing more than thrills. He loves flying more than anything in the world. Up here, he wasn’t defined by his house, or called out by his parents; up here, Tyler was nothing more than Tyler.

“Gryffindor Captain and Beater Seth Kramer manages to block the bludger zooming his way with a backhand, send from Dominic Merritt, which bounces towards Riley again... and BLOCKED by Alexander Pattinson! The Slytherins have the quaffle again, no, stolen by the Gryffindors, Cunningham makes the pass to Donahue, Smith dives, and BLOCKS THE SHOT!”

“Keep it up Dan,” Tyler murmurs, steering his broom into a sharp left turn. That’s when he spots it - a flicker of gold, zooming back down towards the rings. Tyler dives, closer, closer, closer...

When a bludger hits him right in the gut.

With an _oomph,_ Tyler spins, his broom swerving wildly as he grasps it with one hand to keep from plummeting to his death. Pain rockets through his entire body.

“Did you see that folks? Slytherin Captain and Seeker Tyler Joseph was almost knocked off his broom by a bludger! And what’s this? The snitch has been spotted, Gryffindor’s seeker Zack Joseph is really flying, chasing after that thing - and yes folks, the two are brothers! We have a little sibling rivalry going on!”

“Come on Tyler,” Josh murmurs under his breath, tapping a comforting rhythm on his knees.

In the air, after Tyler manages to clamber back onto his broomstick, he’s flying once more, diving towards Zack chasing the snitch. He sees it too; a flashing, tiny ball with wings, fluttering like a delicate butterfly. Tyler growls, heading full force towards his brother, planning on sending him falling to the ground.

“Slytherin Joseph is back on his feet - rather, broom, - and zipping towards his brother at an alarming speed, but he can’t be planning to hit him, can he?”

The stands are on the edge of their seats watching the Joseph brothers fight for the snitch; even the chasers seem to forget they’re supposed to be playing a game. Tyler’s skinnier, faster too, he reaches out past Zack, and WHAM! Hits him hard, sending Zack and his broom spiralling.

“FOUL!” the Gryffindors scream, and Zack glares at Tyler as he climbs back onto his broom.

A free shot is given to those crimson wearing bastards, putting the score at 10-10. Tyler’s not worried though, even if the snitch had disappeared once more. He goes back to circling the pitch, high in the sky, keeping a close eye out for the snitch _and_ his dumb brother.

“Okay then, Slytherin Captain Tyler Joseph _did_ plan on brutally knocking his brother out of the sky, okay, the Slytherins have been penalized, and the game continues.”

“Stupid,” Tyler mutters, rolling his eyes, as he makes another turn and dives out of the way of a bludger whizzing past his head. He’s not going to lie, he has a lot of resentment towards his brother, because Zack is a Gryffindor, his father is a Gryffindor, and Tyler’s not.

He wishes Zack would have fell.

Woody is back to commentating. “Gryffindors have the Quaffle, Riley passes to Cunningham, Cunningham dives, passes to Donahue, Donahue dodges a bludger, shoots, Smith attempts to block... GRYFFINDOR SCORES!” There are cheers from the Gryffindor side, moans from the Slytherin side, and Woody adds a quick, “Thank God,” to which a professor lectures him on.

“Sorry,” he mutters, and in seconds he’s back to speaking. Tyler’s completely blocked him out at this point; the Gryffindors might be ahead, but they still have a chance, if only he could find that damn snitch...

“A bludger has hit Slytherin Keeper Dan Smith in the face! OUCH! Chaser Ethan Cunningham manages to shoot the Quaffle in twice, putting the Gryffindors up thirty points! Slytherins are lagging behind!”

Tyler sees Zack dive, and he reacts quickly, shooting, leaning forward towards the ground, following the flash of gold he caught out of the corner of his eye. His robes billow behind him, the frigid air cold against his skin, and nothing matters, as he zooms closer, closer, _closer..._

His hand outstretched, Tyler can see it, _feel it,_ his gloved hand wraps around the snitch, and he manages to pull up on his broomstick before he hits the ground. His stick jerks, and Tyler topples to the grass, a mad grin on his face as he pushes himself up and shoves his right hand high in the air, fingers clenching the snitch twitching in his hand.

“And Slytherin WINS, 160 POINTS TO 40!” The stands fill with cheers, mostly from Slytherins, and only moans can be heard from the Gryffindors. Tyler notices Zack glaring at him from the air. He doesn’t care.

Later, after he’s changed, Tyler’s with Mark and Josh in the garden, taking a walk to let off some excitement. Mark keeps telling Tyler how incredible the game was, his hands moving all over the place.

“Dude, when you almost got knocked off your broom, I thought you were dead, and you frickin’, you climbed back up, and caught that snitch like that! Ahh dude, that game was _awesome._ I can _not_ wait until the next one. The Ravenclaws are going to destroy the Hufflepuffs.” Mark ignores Josh's playful pout.

“Thanks,” Tyler replies, still grinning. There’s an ugly bluish-red bruise on his side, but Tyler’s too excited to care. They won their first game of the season, against those stupid Gryffindors.

“I can’t believe you tried knocking your brother off his broom,” Josh scolds him, his brow furrowed and lips twisted into a frown. “He’s younger than you Tyler, he could have gotten seriously hurt.”

Tyler shrugs. “He’s _fine_ Josh, I wasn’t trying to actually injure him.”

“Didn’t seem that way,” mumbles Josh.

“But we still _won,_ Josh. Aren’t you happy for me?”

“Of course I am! I knew you guys were going to win.” Josh smiles, for the first time since they met up. “Would you want to meet at the library later tonight?”

Tyler knows what that’s code for, and his grin widens. “I would love too.”

“You guys want to celebrate with homework?” Mark shakes his head. “You two are seriously strange.”

“You have no idea,” Tyler says, winking at Josh.

Mark scowls.

-

Tyler stands at the edge of the Forbidden Forest in his pajamas, not quite sure why he’s out here so late at night. He’s shivering, his arms wrapped tightly around his torso, because he didn’t even bother to bring a coat. He knows he could get in some serious trouble for sneaking out, but he doesn’t care.

He had heard whispers, someone with a raspy voice calling his name. It was weird too, because it sounded like the voice was at the back of his head, just like the sorting hat had been.

“ _Tyler, Forbidden foressst,”_ it called, and that’s how Tyler found himself here. It had started after dinner, and continued through a long night of celebrating their win against Gryffindor. It had been bothering him all night.

He takes a step forward, closer to the edge. Tyler had only been in the forest a total of two other times; once for a detention, and the other for a class on magical creatures.

_“That’s right, closer, closssser...”_

He sort of wants to scream. The voice gets louder, and louder, and then...

It’s not there at all.

Tyler blinks and looks around. He sees no one. “Hello? Is there someone out there?”

_“Look down.”_

So he does, and to his surprise, finds a snake. It’s huge, with brown spots on its back.

Tyler squeaks, jumping back, as the snake curls around itself and raises its head, its tongue flickering. He had no clue there were snakes out in the forest. Tyler assumed there were only magical creatures out there.

 _“Tyler Josssssseph,”_ the snake speaks. _Speaks._

Tyler blinks. “You can talk?”

_“Yes I can.”_

“And I can... I can understand you?” his face turns as white as the Baron. Tyler knows all about parseltongue, the ability to talk to snakes. It’s hereditary, passed down to those who are descendants of Salazar Slytherin, found in people with dark magic.

All of this is enough to make Tyler want to run away screaming.

_“You are more powerful than you know Joseph. I come with inssssstructions.”_

“What’s that?” Tyler barely has enough oxygen to say. He thinks he’s stopped breathing.

_“There are booksss in SSSSSSlughorn’s office that you must ssssstudy. Books locked away. Books that are dangeroussssss.”_

“Why would I...” Tyler trails off. His tongue feels swollen, blocking his airways. He feels sick to his stomach. “Dark magic?”

 _“Yesssssss,”_ says the snake.

“But, why? Who sent you? Why me?”

The snake seems to grin. Tyler has never seen a snake smile before. _“You’ll ssssseee.”_ And before Tyler can ask any more questions, the snake is gone, slithering back into the forest, leaving Tyler to weakly scamper up the hill and sneak back into the castle. He feels sick to his stomach, mostly because everything makes sense.

Mostly because he _wants_ to do what he was told. He wants to find the books, wants to read them, wants to study them and learn.

Tyler knows he has an evil side, he’s always known. He’s just been pushing it away for so long. Maybe too long.

Instead of going to the infirmary, where he probably should have gone, Tyler crawls back into bed, and forces himself to go to sleep.

-

“Josh, I’m not lying to you. I spoke with a _snake._ Why would I lie about something like that?”

The two are walking towards the library after their Charms class, and Tyler almost exploded not being able to tell Josh about his weird night the whole class period.

“Tyler, all I’m saying is that it doesn’t sound feasible. How could you communicate with a snake?”

“It’s called parseltongue, and there have been very few people that have been able to speak it. One including Voldemort.”

Josh stops walking, Tyler slamming into his back. He rubs his sore nose as he moves to Josh’s side. “Josh?”

“Why have I never heard of that? People talk about the Dark Lord all the time. He’s probably the only one that _can do it,_ and he’s been gone for a very long time. Tyler, we’re safe.”

“But what if we’re not? Josh, I can talk to snakes. _Snakes._ That can only mean I’m a descendant of Salazar Slytherin. It makes sense now why I was put in that house, and what the sorting hat said about me having potential to do something. He never said what that something was, he just trailed off, and I’ve never stopped thinking about that since. This could be my chance to understand why no one touches dark magic. It could give me a chance to understand it.”

Josh is angry now, and frustrated, given by his narrowed eyes and frown. “Tyler, it was late at night, and you probably dreamt the whole thing. Please, I’m begging you, do not get into stuff you won’t be able to get out of. Nobody touches that stuff because it’s dangerous. That’s the whole reason we have a class on it! Drop the whole thing, I’m not talking about this anymore.” And with a huff, Josh turns, heading down the staircase and away from the library and Tyler’s craziness.

Tyler stands there, amidst the rushing crowd of students, and watches Josh walk down the stairs. Could Josh be right? Could Tyler have dreamt the whole thing?

It makes sense, he decides. Finding himself outside in his pajamas and no coat, shivering, waiting for a snake in the woods. It definitely did sound made up.

With a sigh, Tyler turns in the opposite direction, planning on going back to do his homework in the Slytherin common room. He was dreaming, that was all. He couldn’t talk to snakes, that was insane, and not possible. There were only two people that could do that, well, one now, and Tyler was not that person. He couldn’t be that person.

With a shake of his head, Tyler decides he’s going to forget the whole thing, just like Josh said.

-

Weeks pass, and with the upcoming Christmas season, Tyler starts to believe that maybe Josh really had been right. It made a lot a sense after all; since that night, there hadn’t been any snakes, no weird raspy voices in his ear, and no weird urges to head to the Forbidden Forest.

Quidditch wasn’t going on due to the upcoming Christmas season, leaving Tyler with plenty of time to struggle with the heaps of work they had to do.

“You think they’d show some mercy with break being next week,” Josh mutters, dumping his books onto the library table. The two had just come from Defense Against the Dark Arts, where Professor Steward had shown absolutely no mercy for them, assigning at least two hours of homework, and a list of books they had to get from the library to even answer the questions in the first place.

Tyler laughs. “Josh, they never show mercy.”

A sigh. “I know.” he settles into his chair and raps his knuckles on the wood. “Would you get the books?”

“Sure, since I’m still up and everything,” Tyler replies sarcastically, grinning as Josh rolls his eyes. He heads to the back of the library where all the restricted books are, flashing a smile to the “keeper of all books,” and steps over the rope blocking the section from everything else. With a place full of magic, Tyler’s a little surprised the section doesn’t have a little more security, what with the advanced students being the only ones allowed to use them and everything.

Tyler trails his fingers across all the books until he finds the Dark Arts section and leans in to skim over the titles. When he finds what the pair needs, he starts piling them into his arms, when a particular books catches his eye. It’s a dark maroon colour with black accents, and he feels stuck, like the book is putting him into a trance, and forcing him to come closer.

With a shake of his head, Tyler manages to snap out of it and turns on his heel with his stomach churning. He’s going to ignore it. It’s probably nothing, but there’s still a small part of him wanting to come back and take it later. _It’s just a stupid book._

“You got everything?” asks Josh as Tyler drops the stack on the table and slides one in front of him.

“Yeah. Should be all of them. You know, with the promise of more free time, I didn’t realize we were going to be swamped with ridiculous amounts of homework too.” Tyler takes a quill and starts to read, his stomach still clenching. He’s trying so hard to stop thinking about that stupid book.

“Jeez, I know. It’s like we’re studying for tests every day.” Josh shakes his head, his brow furrowed as he scans the book with a finger. “Okay, I think if I do the first half and you do the second, we should be able to finish this thing in time.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Tyler agrees. A few minutes of silence passes, and Tyler can't handle it. He drops his quill on the table. “What do your Christmas plans look like?”

“Tyler, I’ve told you this a hundred times.” Josh doesn’t look up from writing.

“I know, I know, but I forgot.”

“You didn’t forget, you’re just trying to procrastinate.”

“I don’t want to be away from you for that long.” Tyler frowns, sighing dramatically. “I mean, I get it, it’s Christmas, but how am I supposed to go three weeks without kissing you?”

“You do it for twelve over summer break.”

“Josh, quit being a dick, or I’ll turn your hair blue.”

Josh grins. “Okay, tonight I’ll meet you back in the dungeons during dinner again, and we can kiss until you like, throw up or something. But only if you do your work.”

“Fine,” Tyler says, picking up his quill, “but this better not be some elaborate ruse with no end result.”

“Shut up Tyler, you know I would never do that.” Josh is blushing, and Tyler only beams.

-

Break approaches fast, and soon enough Tyler finds him back at home. The entire car ride home Zack talks to their father about the Quidditch game, and it’s like Tyler isn’t even there.

“I was this close Dad, _this_ close, and Tyler comes barreling out of the sky-”

“Tyler, did you purposely try to knock your brother off his broom?” Dad looks over at Tyler in the mirror. Tyler rolls his eyes.

“It’s how you play the game.”

“Anywho,” Zack continues, ignoring Tyler’s grumbling, “Slytherin got fouled, and we got to make a free shot, which put us in the lead...” Tyler ignores the two, his attention all on his backpack, which he’s been running his fingers over the whole time.

He knows he shouldn’t have, but Tyler went back for the book.

The library had been empty, torches casting eerie shadows that bounced across walls that late at night. Tyler had pulled the book out from the shelf and slipped it into his bag. He hadn’t opened it quite yet, honestly a little bit afraid of its power. After all, it had been calling for him.

“And Slytherin ended up winning, but I don’t think that game was fair at all.”

“Well you should have talked to the ref, she might of been able to sort some things out for you guys-”

“Slytherin won fair and square,” Tyler finally speaks up, annoyed with his brother’s whining. “I caught the snitch and about killed myself doing it.”

Zack huffs audibly as he crosses his arms firmly across his chest.

“Well, congratulations on winning the game Tyler, I’m proud of you, but you really shouldn't have tried to hurt your brother.”

“It's how the game works,” he continues his argument, catching Zack’s smirk. Tyler wants to rip his brother’s head off.

“Don't worry Dad, when we play Hufflepuff we'll beat ‘em.”

“We’ll beat them,” Tyler repeats mockingly under his breath, turning to look out the window at the passing landscape. He can't wait to get out of the stinkin’ car.

Later that night, Tyler is helping his mother peel potatoes for dinner. The sink is running, a pile of dirty dishes cleaning and drying themselves.

“How’s school going sweetheart?” She asks, leaning against the counter as she dries her hands with a dishrag. “You’ve seemed frazzled since you got here.”

“Yeah, it’s definitely a load,” Tyler nods without looking up from his potato. Brown strips of skin drop into the trash can. “I’m just irritated I guess.”

“With your brother?” Tyler’s mother glances towards the living room, where Zack and his father were still talking about sports. Tyler grunts. “I’m sorry your father isn’t paying attention to you Tyler, you know how he gets about Quidditch.”

“It’s not just that mom, it’s the fact that Zack followed in his footsteps and I got thrown into the rivalry house. Like, jeez, I won the game, and he doesn’t even care because it was Slytherin that won, not stupid Gryffindor.”

She sighs. “I know it’s stressful hun. How about I try and talk to him, tell him he needs to be more fair? I want you to have a good time while you’re here.”

“I’d appreciate that a lot actually,” Tyler responds, even though he feels a bit pathetic about it. “Thanks.”

“No problem. How’s that friend of yours? Josh, was it?”

“Yeah. He’s fine.”

“Why doesn’t he come over during the summers again?”

“His family travels. They’re both No-Majs, remember?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot he was a muggle-born.” She says that last part in a poorly done British accent and grins. “Would you help me set the table?”

Tyler watches his little sister walk across the living room with her thumb in her mouth and sit next to Zack, who shoves her away. He wishes he was in there instead of here. “Sure.”

-

 _“Lumos,”_ murmurs Tyler under his breath, and a small beam of light flashes out the tip of his wand. He stares at the maroon book laid out in front of him, his heart beating. “Time to get this over with.”

Tyler rips the book open, and the tension strained between him and that stupid thing drops, almost like it hadn’t been there in the first place. He flips through it, feeling a little let down at the fact that half the pages are blank and the other half are in a language he’s never seen before. Tyler frowns. He risked getting in trouble for this?

And then a small piece of paper flutters out of the back cover. Tyler moves his wand closer, casting heavy shadows on his bedroom walls. He glances over at Zack asleep across from him and looks back down only when he’s sure his brother is sound asleep.

 

**_Unlock me_ **

 

He blinks. Unlock me? What does that mean? What is he supposed to-

 _Oh._ Tyler knows. The books in Slughorn’s office. The ones the snake said were dangerous. But that hadn’t been real, that had been a dream, right? Right?

Suddenly feeling nervous again, Tyler shoves the book and the note back into his backpack, wanting to forget all about whatever was going on. It’s Christmas, he’s on break, he’s supposed to be enjoying himself.

A knock at the window distracts him, and with a confused expression, Tyler slides off his bed. The second he pulls open the window, a tawny owl comes flapping in. He grins.

“Hey there girl, who do you belong too?” he strokes her feathers, scoffing a little at the fact that she seems to be pushing into his touch and purring like a cat. A small folded up piece of paper falls out of her beak and into Tyler’s hand.

 

_Hey Tyler, I hope you’re having a good break! I borrowed an owl because I don’t think Pickles would have made it far enough. Anyways, I love you, and I can’t wait to see you again._

 

_Josh_

 

Pickles was Josh’s cat he took to Hogwarts every year. She was black, but pretty sluggish and lazy. It was nice of Josh to send him a note, especially at a time like this.

“Thanks,” he tells the owl. “Hey, if you see Luna, would you mind telling her to come home? I haven’t seen her in a while.”

The owl nods, and Tyler slips her a sickle. Seconds later, she’s gone, flapping her wings into the nighttime sky. Tyler sighs and slips back down under his comforter, clenching Josh’s note in his hand. He wishes Josh was here for him to talk to.

For once, Tyler was actually looking forward to going back to school.

-

The term starts, and Tyler meets Josh early in the morning (as they often do) to make out. He’s craved Josh’s touch for all those weeks, and finally getting it makes him so frickin’ happy.

“Did you have a good holiday?” Josh asks, his face still buried in Tyler’s neck.

“It was fine, you?”

“Fine. I’m better now that you’re here.”

Tyler blushes, and goes back to kissing Josh.

He decides to keep the book hidden from Josh, and sneaks back out late one night to put it back in the library, the crushed up notes still in the pocket of his robes. Tyler decides that maybe looking into whatever this person is trying so hard to get him to do might be worth it if it stops all the weird feelings he’s been getting recently.

Josh’s nagging voice is in the back of Tyler’s head as he hangs back after Potions class ends. Professor Slughorn shouts over their exiting conversations that they have to read page 526 out of their book and answer the questions on making potion antidotes before he to is leaving the classroom and his office wide open. Tyler shakes his head in disbelief. _This is too easy._

He tiptoes in, eyes glancing everywhere, before he notices a locked cabinet in the very back. Tyler pulls out his wand, and looks over his shoulder, just in case. The coast is clear.

Tyler gulps. _“Alohomora.”_

The gears slide and click, and he wastes absolutely no time pulling it open and piling the stack of books in his hands. They all look to be the same size, boring and large like any other text book, and Tyler’s a bit confused to why they’re considered dangerous, until one book stops him cold.

It’s green, with raised spikes and another lock over pages, and it keeps twitching, like it’s being strained against the padlock. He puts all the other books back and grabs for that one, barely managing to lock the cabinet again before the professor comes back into his office. Tyler shoves the book behind his back, trying his hardest to look normal, as the professor squints.

“How can I help you Mr. Joseph?”

“Oh uhm, I just came in here to ask you what the homework was again? I uh, really can’t remember anything to save my life.” he flashes a smile, hoping it’s enough to make him not look suspicious.

“Studies on potion antidotes. Page 526 in Advanced Potion Making. I appreciate you coming to ask me!” he chuckles a little, tugging on the lapels of his suit jacket. “This is my last year here you know, before retirement.”

“I did know that,” Tyler says. “You’ve had uh, quite a career here.”

“You have no clue boy, I’ll have to tell you about it sometime. Anywho, I’ll see you next class period.” He dismisses Tyler with a wave of his hand, dropping down into his seat. Tyler shoves the book under the folds of robe and darts out of the office with his head down and his skin burning. That had been close.

The book twitches against his chest, pulsing, almost like it’s...alive. He’s taking heavy breaths as he treks back to the Slytherin common room. His palms are sweaty, clenched in the fabric of his clothes to keep the book hidden, and his heart feels like it’s about to pop out of his chest. There’s so much adrenaline coursing through his veins, Tyler feels like he’s going to be sick. When had he gotten involved in stuff like this?

“Hey Tyler, you wanna play chess with us?” asks Dan as Tyler comes barreling through the common room.

“Uh, yeah, maybe in a minute,” he answers as he passes. Dan turns back towards the board with a finger on his lips.

Tyler shoves the book under his mattress and flops onto his back, his breathing heavy. He really hopes that Slughorn doesn’t decide to open that cabinet and look for this specific no named book. He wonders what’s so special about this book, what makes it so dangerous that a magical snake had to come out of the forest and talk to him, and he had to find a note in a different book to get the point across. Someone must have really wanted him to find it. He thinks about what Josh would say if he found out Tyler was doing the exact opposite of what he told him.

He lets his curiosity get the better of him. Tyler lets his bottom lip slide through his teeth as he pulls the book back out and unlocks the padlock. The book growls, and Tyler scoots back a little with wide eyes. It continues to twitch, twisting itself in his bedsheets before it settles down. Its pages flutter a little when Tyler reaches out to touch them.

The pages have a slight green tinge to them, and the minute his skin comes in contact... Tyler feels amazing. No, better than amazing, like he’s just taken a Felix Felicis potion. He takes a deep breath through his nose and pulls the book closer to him so he can start at the very beginning. The first page says _Welcome,_ and although he knows he should be incredibly suspicious, Tyler doesn’t feel like that at all.

He feels powerful.

-

A week later, Tyler finds himself outside the Hufflepuff basement, staring at the complex set of barrels stacked in front of him. Josh had told him once where the common room was, and Tyler really didn’t think he’d be this desperate to see Josh. However, after last night, he’s just craving touch.

“Can I help you?” Tyler whips around to face a blonde girl with a large smile on her face, dressed in Hufflepuff yellow and black. He clears his throat, knowing he sticks out like a sore thumb over here. Why on Earth would a Slytherin be anywhere near the Hufflepuff basement?

“Uh, yeah, actually. Could you uhm, his name is Josh, Josh Dun-”

“Oh, I know him! Do you want me to get him for you?”

“If you would?”

“Sure!” she skips past Tyler, staring at him a little bit. “If you could just turn around-”

“Oh, uh, sure, sure,” he flips around, fiddling with his thumbs, until he hears a door swing open. “I’ll be right back, I promise.”

“I’ll be waiting,” he says, leaning against one of the barrels. He inspects his nails to pass time, and eventually pulls out his wand just to twirl it between his fingers.

Minutes later, there’s another squeak of door hinges, and Josh’s warm voice echoes throughout the basement. “Tyler, what’s up?”

Tyler wastes no time shoving Josh against the adjacent wall to suck a bruise into his neck. Josh moans, tangling his fingers in Tyler’s cloak, before he comes to his senses and pushes the younger boy off of him. “Jesus man, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, I just, I wanted to see you.” Tyler pushes again, this time biting Josh’s bottom lip, kissing him aggressively as he starts to unbutton Josh’s shirt and loosen his tie. “Wanted to touch you.”

“Tyler, _no!”_ Josh’s voice is loud, louder than Tyler’s ever heard before. In surprise, Tyler backs off, and Josh scowls as he starts to fix his clothes. “Dude, what the hell? You can’t be so reckless and naive-” he ends abruptly, and blinks a couple of times. “Tyler, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, I’m just horny,” Tyler states, crossing his arms.

“This is not like you at all.”

“Sure it is. Nothing’s wrong.”

Josh narrows his eyes. “I don’t believe you. Look, I have homework I have to get done. I’ll talk to you later, okay? Hopefully you can behave yourself then.” Josh turns back towards the door with a scowl, not even bothering to hide the fact that you have to tap the barrels to get in. Tyler tells himself to remember that, just in case.

“Great,” he mutters, throwing his hands up in the air. What _was_ wrong with him? He had never treated Josh like that, like some kind of object. Where had he gotten urges like that?

Tyler sighs, and shuffles back to the dungeons with his head down.

-

He’s not sure how it happens, but Tyler starts spending all his free time reading that book he stole out of Slughorn’s office. It never seems to end, pages appearing right when he thinks he comes to the end, and it pulls him back in.

He practices on insects, waving his wand to watch green sparks render a beetle dead as it twitches the second _“Avada Kedavra”_ leaves his mouth, and Tyler knows he’s not supposed to say that, never supposed to say that, but he feels more _alive_ than he ever has before. He tries out _Crucio,_ watching another beetle twitch in pain, opening its pinchers, begging for mercy, and _Imperio,_ forcing an ant to walk from one end of the table to the other.

Tyler reads about dark potions, reads about hexes and jinxes and all kinds of things he can do to people.

It’s definitely given him a new sense of purpose, maybe even some more confidence, because Quidditch practices roll back around, and he works his team harder than ever. They’re playing Ravenclaw, and Tyler wants to w-i-n win. He’s never really contemplated cheating before, but Tyler found some pretty interesting spells in that book that he wants to try out.

Even though he’s been more confident, Tyler’s felt angry too, and he’s been more aggressive with Josh. He’s not sure what it is, but every time Tyler sees him, he wants to touch him everywhere, wants to get him naked and see how far he can push Josh until he breaks. Tyler’s a little bit worried, but he’s stopped trying to push away unwanted emotions. He’s opening up to his bad side.

Tyler shows up to breakfast with heavy purple bags under his eyes. Dan stares at him.

“You look horrible.”

“Thanks Dan,” replies Tyler without looking up from his fried potatoes. There’s a bit of commotion as a familiar brown haired boy with a bright blue tie makes his way through the tables.

“Excuse me, excuse me, oh shut up, nobody cares about your pureblood crap, excuse me - oh! Tyler! There you are.” Mark squeezes in between Tyler and Dan and grins. “Dude, where have you been? I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.” Tyler turns to face him, raising an eyebrow. “Ooooh, yikes. Dude, what happened to you?”

“A lot.”

“Josh sent me over here. He’s been a little nervous to be around you, and he won’t tell me why. Do you know why by chance?”

“Oi, Ravenclaw, why don’t you go back to your own table?” shouts a Slytherin four places down from where Mark is sitting. He rolls his eyes.

“Oi, Slytherin, how about you shut the hell up?” Mark rests a hand on Tyler’s shoulder, and immediately recoils like he touched a hot burner. “Jesus man, I think you might need to go to the infirmary.”

“I’m fine Mark.”

“Josh says you aren’t doing so well in your classes. Your parents have been sending letters, haven’t they?”

“Mark, go away. I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

“Tyler, quit being a dick. Obviously something is wrong, and you need to talk. If it isn’t going to be me, then at least have it be Josh, okay? He’s your best friend.” Mark pulls out from the table and turns on his heel without saying another word, leaving Tyler to stare at him longingly. He knows Mark is right, Tyler just doesn’t want to admit it. He wants Mark to come back and yell at him some more about how weird he’s been.

“Dude what the hell was that all about?” asks Dan, and instead of answering, Tyler pushes out from the table and leaves.

-

Josh finds Tyler in his dormitory mumbling under his breath a few days later. Tyler doesn’t even realize there’s another person in the room.

 _“Expelliarmus!”_ He shouts, and the book flies out of Tyler’s hands. Tyler looks up wildly into Josh’s mad eyes as the older boy tucks his wand away. “Tyler, what the hell are you doing?”

“How did you get in here?”

Josh scoffs. “Please, it takes a password to get in here and you tell me every time it changes. Tyler, I’m worried about you. You haven’t been taking care of yourself and everyone keeps saying you’re acting strange. You have your match against Ravenclaw tomorrow Ty, and you haven’t once mentioned-”

“There’s more to life than fuckin’ sports,” Tyler mutters, reaching back to grab his book. Josh is quick to pull his wand back out and point it at Tyler.

“You move and I’ll turn you into a frog or something. Tell me what the hell is going on.”

Tyler sighs. “Look. Remember when I told you I could... like, talk to snakes?”

Josh speaks in a warning tone. “Tyler-”

“No, you shut up. I tried to put it off J, I really did, but I felt like I was going insane. And then I was drawn towards this book in the library with a note that talked about the same things the snake did, and I might of... broke into Slughorn’s office to get it.”

“Tyler!”

“You don’t understand Josh. People don’t understand dark magic, that’s why they’re afraid of it, but that book, it’s full of things you wouldn’t _dream_ of. There’s this spell, it’s really complex, but if I can I figure out how to do this, I can open up, I can experiment-”

Josh looks mortified. “Tyler, do you know how dangerous that is? Experimenting with dark magic... you’re gonna get yourself killed!”

“It’s _supposed_ to be dangerous Josh, that’s the point. If I keep pushing past boundaries-”

“Do you even hear yourself right now? I’m taking that book from you and then you’re going to the infirmary.” Josh goes to grab the book off the floor when Tyler jumps in front of him.

“That’s my fucking book, you touch that and-”

 _“Everte Statum!”_ Tyler goes flying across the room, his body hitting the wall with a loud thud before his body crumples to the floor. He groans in pain. “I’m sorry Tyler, but I can’t let you continue with this. I love you too much to watch you destroy yourself.”

“Don’t you see? This is who I am. This is who I’ve always been. I’m finally letting my true self come out-”

“You’re letting yourself become a monster Tyler! You’re falling apart, making yourself sick, and I can’t watch you do this anymore. It’s been two months of this-” Josh had been flipping through the pages of the book, his eyes wide in fear. “Tyler, this isn’t even English, how have you been understanding this?”

“Just leave me alone.” Tyler picks himself up and wipes the blood off his mouth. His bottom lip split when Josh sent him flying. “I decide what I do what my life, not you. You’re pathetic anyways Josh. No wonder everyone hates Hufflepuffs.”

Josh’s face fills with hurt, and Tyler isn’t even phased. He drops the book on the ground. “Fine. If you don’t care about me, then I won’t care what you do. Have fun destroying your life, you jerk.”

Josh storms out of the room, all of the lights going out with a _whoosh_ as he leaves.

-

Tyler changes into his green robes carefully, his hands shaking as he slides on his gloves and grips his broom. He feels awful, stomach churning, sweat beading on his forehead, his breaths heavy. They just gotta win this game.

“Alright team, les’go,” he mumbles, heading towards the field, when Dan stops him.

“Tyler, you aren’t looking so good. Are you sure you should play?”

“I’m fine man. We’re going to beat those Gryffindors-”

“We’re playing the Ravenclaws-”

“We’re going to beat those Ravenclaws, and overtake those stupid Gryffindors in the house championship. Okay? Okay, go team, les’go play.” Tyler pumps a fist forward and marches out onto the field. He’s got a few tricks up his sleeve, what with learning non-verbal spells and reading out of that book. They are going to win, even if that means breaking a few bones.

The herbology teacher, Professor Longbottom, was refereeing today, and the minute the whistle gets blown, Tyler is shooting up far into the air, trying to lose himself in the clouds. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, letting the wind swirl past him. It’s drizzling slightly, ice cold raindrops hitting his bare face and sinking into his hair. Tyler debates setting something on fire.

Gold flashes out of the corner of his eye, and he watches blue shoot after it. Tyler stares instead of flying after the Ravenclaw seeker through narrowed eyes, starts mumbling under his breath, and the seeker’s broom starts twitching and jerking uncontrollably. He gets the urge to kill this person, to send them falling to their death and watch their brains spill out of a cracked skull.

“What’s this folks? It appears Ravenclaw seeker Carla Brown has lost control of her broomstick!”

Tyler points his own broom downwards, planning on going after the snitch. He’s still muttering, but his fingers feel numb, he feels so cold... he can’t hold on anymore.

And with a short breath, Tyler lets go, his eyelids fluttering as he plummets two hundred feet to his death.


	2. Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, here's part two. Thanks again for reading.

Josh hadn’t planned on coming to the Slytherin-Ravenclaw match, but Mark had forced him, telling him he would “regret missing out” on a Quidditch game.

“I understand you’re mad at him, but I can’t miss the chance to watch my house beat the Slytherins, and everyone is here anyways.” says Mark as he pulls out his ratty pair of binoculars. Josh wonders how long he’s had those; they look almost ten years old, if not more. There’s plastic rubbing off in between Mark’s fingers. “I don’t even know why you’re so upset with him. Can’t get a word out of either of you.”

“That’s because it’s none of your business,” Josh answers dryly, although he has thought about taking it to a teacher. But Josh doesn’t want to get Tyler in trouble or expelled from school. “Who’s winning, anyways?”

“Slytherin, but Brown’s an excellent seeker, she’ll-” Mark pauses, pulling the binoculars away to squint. “What is going on with her broom?”

Josh squints too, leaning forward to see better, and there the Ravenclaw seeker is, her broom jerking all around like it’s trying to throw her off. The poor girl screams as it jerks hard enough to send her falling, and she manages to latch three fingers onto the handle of her broomstick before dropping.

“Brooms don’t do that, someone’s gotta be messing with her-”

Mark’s voice fades into the background, because Josh is no longer focused on the Ravenclaw girl, but the boy in the faded green Slytherin robes plummeting towards the ground like a bird with broken wings. “That’s Tyler, that’s TYLER!” Josh screams, jumping up from his spot to push down between frantic people. He yanks his wand out and points at Tyler’s body, yelling as loud as he can, _“Arresto Momentum!”_ and the Slytherin boy stops inches above the ground briefly before flopping lifelessly into the grass. There’s commotion in the stands and on the field; even Woody seems frozen, unable to bring any commentary.

The Ravenclaw Captain calls a much needed time out and Josh uses this time to rush down onto the field, ignoring Mark shouting after him. The teams both land, gathering around Tyler with murmurs, and Professor Longbottom tells them to spread out, “give the boy some space.”

Tyler is seizing, his body shaking uncontrollably, and he keeps whispering, whispers that are pure gibberish to most of the people there. Josh shoves past everyone, ignores all the talking, and drops to his knees when he sees how sick Tyler looks. He’s pale, paler than Josh has ever seen, and Tyler is not a pale person; he’s beautiful, with dark, tanned skin, and beautiful eyes, and, and-

“Everyone stand back,” Professor McGonagall, headmistress of Hogwarts, says firmly, and the crowd parts. She approaches Tyler carefully, and when all the colour drains from her face, Josh knows something is terribly wrong. “Clear the pitch. I want everyone in their common rooms safe and sound, this is an emergency, understand me?” she turns towards Professor Longbottom. “Neville, go get the nurse.”

He nods his head firmly and leaves with the rest of the students, leaving Josh alone with the headmistress. He’s never seen Tyler like this, never seen _anyone_ like this, in so much pain, writhing like they’re being tortured.

“Boy, I need you back in the Hufflepuff basement, okay? Run along.”

Josh is frozen to the spot, his hands shaking next to his side. He’s just as afraid as everyone else. “He’s speaking parseltongue, isn’t he?”

McGonagall looks up at Josh in surprise. “How do you know about that?”

“I told him there was only one person that could do that. Voldemort. And I didn’t, I didn’t believe him, he told me-”

She has Tyler in her arms now, restraining him from hurting himself. “Is this your friend?”

Josh nods. “He, Tyler, he’s been under some kind of spell, I don’t know what’s wrong with him, he’s not well-”

Professor Longbottom returns with the nurse, Madam Pomfrey. McGonagall gestures to the Professor again. “Neville, if you could walk this boy back to where he belongs.”

“No, I can’t leave, I know the most about him, you don’t understand, if I hadn’t used that spell, he would have _died_ -”

“We can take things from here. I’m sorry, but I am not willing to risk the safety of our students. When he’s restrained and we know what’s really going on, I’ll send someone to fetch you.”

“Come along Josh,” Professor Longbottom says quietly, taking his student by the upper arm. Josh gives in with a sniff, and lets the Professor walk him off the field. “They’ll get things sorted out, okay? That’s what McGonagall does best, trust me. I’ve gotten into plenty of messes she’s had to sort out.”

“He’s my best friend,” Josh sobs, unable to control his emotions. Tyler could have died, if Josh hadn’t been at that match to slow his fall. He should have told a teacher, then they wouldn’t be in mess. “I love him.”

“They’ll take good care of him, I promise.” And right there in the corridor, the Professor hugs his crying student as hard as he can.

-

A week passes, and Tyler is still not well. They reschedule the Quidditch match and find a fill in seeker. Josh feels sick to his stomach.

The teachers won’t tell him a goddamn thing. The most he gets are a few updates from Professor Longbottom, who’s doing his best to keep Josh sane. Thing is though, Josh isn’t sane. He’s far from it. He can’t concentrate on anything, especially not his homework, and the rumors that circulate make him even sicker.

“That Joseph kid, I heard he’s possessed by dark magic.”

“You don’t think he’s related to Voldemort, do you?”

“He’s probably a Death Eater. Someone should send him to Azkaban before we all get hurt.”

“No wonder he’s a Slytherin. You know all the dark wizards come from there.”

Josh spends most of his time in his dorm now, unable to bear the thought of what Tyler got himself into. Josh was so selfish to leave Tyler alone like that. He should have been there for him, not stormed away like an angry girlfriend.

If only he had seen the signs of how sick Tyler truly was.

A knock at the door rips Josh away from his thoughts, and he sits up, surprised when the visitor turns out to be Zack. The thought that an outsider is in the Hufflepuff basement doesn’t even cross his mind for once.

“Zack?” Josh blinks. “How did you get in here?”

“I talked to someone, and they helped me in,” he replies, voice barely over a whisper. Josh can see how pained Zack looks too. “I just uhm, I wanted to talk to you, about Tyler.”

“I probably know just as much as you.” he sighs, and pats the spot next to him. “But we can talk.”

Zack happily sits down, and starts gnawing on a hangnail. Josh watches him curiously. He doesn’t know Tyler’s brother that well, and from Tyler’s perspective, Zack is the absolute worst person in the world.

Finally, Zack stops chewing and rolls his palms nervously over his knees. “I’m so scared.” And then he’s crying.

Josh scoots closer to wrap an arm around Zack’s shoulders. He reminds himself that Zack’s still a child, only twelve years old, and that this must be so awful for him. “I was there, at the g-game, and he fell, he could have _died,_ and this whole time I’ve been such a j-jerk to him-”

“It’s not your fault he fell Zack, he’s very sick.”

“And no one can tell me why! They haven’t even told our parents, they’re keeping this a secret from our _parents_ -”

“Zack, have you noticed any weird behaviour from Tyler? Like, before all of this happened. Over break, maybe?”

He sniffs and uses his robes to wipe his nose. “Uhm, over Christmas, he uh, he stayed in his bedroom a lot. There was this book he had, and he kept stroking it, I don’t even think he realized what he was doing, but it was sort of freaky.”

“Did he let anyone near the book?”

“No, I made some joke about it and he got really offended. Ever since we got back, he’s been acting really strange, he’s so much meaner, telling me he’s going to ruin my life, wishing I wasn’t alive, and I know I do stuff back to him, I know he’s jealous because I’m a Gryffindor like our father, but he’s never been this vocal about it. You and Mark, you two are his best friends, and you were the only people I could think of to come too. All the professors, you know they’re whispering about it, talking about dark magic... but that’s not Tyler. He’s so nice to everyone around him, he couldn’t possibly be dabbling in that stuff himself.”

Josh sighs again, louder this time, as he starts tapping on his thighs to keep himself occupied. “Tyler is cocky. He’s the kind of person to do something stupid because someone told him he couldn’t do it. Like the time he drank that potion-”

“And ended up vomiting frogs for almost four hours.” Zack grins at the memory, the tips of his ears turning red. In mere seconds though, he’s back to looking grim. “Do you think that’s what happened? Someone dared him to do something, and he just... did it?”

“I don’t think you understand how hard Tyler tries to fit in,” Josh murmurs without looking up from his lap. Years of Tyler spilling his feelings out to Josh was building up for the moment when Josh betrayed his trust. “In a long line of Gryffindors, Tyler’s the only Slytherin, and he’s been troubled by that for years. He told me that the sorting hat said he had potential for something, but never revealed what that something was. He’s been sort of obsessed with finding out what the hat meant. And he struggles morally, because when he feels like he wants to do something wrong, he does the right thing instead. He _forces_ himself too. These past couple of months, Tyler’s stopped doing that. He let his bad side take over.”

Zack blinks, combing through all the information Josh gave him. “Do you think he cursed that Ravenclaw seeker’s broomstick?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s been cooping himself up in the Slytherin dormitories reading book after book about the Dark Arts-” Josh immediately slaps a hand over his mouth as Zack tumbles off the bed with a mortified look on his face.

“So the rumours are true then? Tyler’s been messing with _dark magic?_ But, but, how _could_ he?”

“He told me he could talk to snakes, that a snake told him about some books he could get his hands on-”

“My brother can talk to _snakes?”_ Zack seems more and more terrified with each passing second. “No wonder they’re keeping this a secret from my parents! Tyler’s a parselmouth!”

“Zack, you can’t tell _anyone,_ you understand? Tyler’s safety is our number one concern-”

“My dad’s been keeping some interesting secrets about the family, I’ll tell you-”

 _“Silencio!”_ Zack’s mouth snaps shut, unable to speak, and he looks at an annoyed Josh in fright. Satisfied, Josh tucks his wand back into his sleeve. “Thank you, I’ll fix that later. Now listen to me. Whatever dark magic Tyler has gotten himself into, I don’t think it’s fully his fault, and we’re going to get to the bottom of this with or without adults. The only person I could think to trust is Longbottom, he might be willing to help us. Even so, I’m not quite sure.”

Zack glares, and Josh huffs. “I said I’d fix it later, quite pouting. I can’t trust you not to run off and ruin everything, okay?” Zack gives in and nods. “Good. Now I’m going to go see if I can get into the hospital wing, do you want to come with me?” Another nod. “Let’s go then.”

-

McGonagall is whispering with Longbottom and Slughorn when the boys sneak around the entrance to the hospital wing. Josh ducks down and waves a hand so Zack (still unable to speak) will follow.

“Do you really think he’s related to the Dark Lord?” Longbottom sounds nervous.

“I don’t know Neville, but we know at least he’s related to Salazar Slytherin, or at least being controlled-”

“He’s a parselmouth, if news spreads...”

Josh pushes on the door a little, cracking it just enough for him to look through. He can see the teachers crouched over Tyler’s lifeless body. He’s barely breathing, his chest moving up and down ever so slightly. It makes Josh’s heart hurt.

“A book is missing from my office, a powerful, cursed book. I locked it away for a reason, probably shoulda took it off school grounds...” Slughorn frowns. “You think he took it?”

“McGonagall, you don’t think this is another Chamber of Secrets problem, do you? That the Dark Lord is manipulating this poor boy-”

“Neville, Voldemort has been dead for over nineteen years-”

“But he’s talking to snakes and jinxing brooms, endangering the lives of students-”

“Professor, I know enough, okay?” The Headmistress turns towards Professor Slughorn. “Horace, you have Joseph as a student, does he look like the kind of person to-”

“No,” Slughorn immediately says, “He’s one of the kindest students I’ve met-”

Longbottom scoffs, “Bloody hell, he’s friends with a _Hufflepuff,_ -”

McGonagall opens her mouth to say more, when Tyler sits up. The lights all go out with a _whoosh_ and the hospital wing fills with whispers. “Pomfrey?”

Josh turns back to look at Zack, who looks like he’s about to jump out of his skin.

 _“The Dark Lord will return.”_ Tyler hisses, his voice deep and chilling; Josh cracks the door further open to see that his best friend’s eyes are glowing _bright red._ He slaps a hand over his mouth to avoid squeaking. _“You will all pay for your crimes against Lord Voldemort.”_

And just like that, Tyler’s body falls back onto the bed, his breaths short, and the lights flash back on like nothing ever happened, leaving all the professors frazzled and terrified.

“I’d say Voldemort’s involved Miss,” Professor Longbottom about spats before he turns on his heel and walks out of the wing, the door nearly smacking Josh in the face. He’s gotta tell them now, if he doesn’t...

McGonagall sighs loudly, pressing a palm to her forehead. “Mr. Dun, Mr. Joseph, I know the pair of you are back there. If you would.” she waves her hand, and the door flies open, revealing the shaking Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

“Okay,” Josh starts, trying to be calm, “what the _hell_ was that?”

Zack frowns, trying to speak, and with a roll of her eyes, allows him to start rambling. “What is going on with my brother? What’s wrong with him, why is he hissing, why is he-”

“I know what Tyler was trying to do ma’am.” Josh clears his throat and bows his head. Slughorn sighs.

“Minerva, this is the Hufflepuff boy I was speaking of. He knows Mr. Joseph better than the rest of us.”

“Better than me, even,” Zack admits.

“Alright, then I’d like to speak to you alone.” Slughorn nods, leading Zack out of the infirmary. The headmistress and Josh sit down on a separate bed, and Josh proceeds to tell her everything.

He tells her about Tyler’s family, about his jealousy with Zack’s relationship with their father, he tells her about Tyler’s obsession with the sorting hat’s words, he tells her about Tyler’s personality to prove he was the best, to prove he could do anything, about his constant struggle about proving he wasn’t like past Slytherins. He tells her about Tyler’s meeting in the woods with the snake, about the book he stole from the library, the one he stole from Slughorn’s office, and how obsessed he became with knowing everything, experimenting with dark magic, about how he wanted to understand why everyone was afraid of it.

“So you see Professor, I don’t think he ever intended to do harm,” Josh says softly, glancing over at Tyler’s broken form, “he just got caught up in obsession.”

McGonagall smiles a broken, sympathetic smile. “I understand Mr. Dun. It seems like someone is using your friend to try and bring dark magic back, and Tyler’s curiosity only made things much worse.”

“Do you think he really is a parselmouth? Or is he being controlled?”

A sigh. “It wouldn’t be the first time someone was being heavily controlled by dark magic. We’ll get to the bottom of this, okay? I know you want to see your friend healthy again, and trust me, so do I. We haven’t had a problem in Hogwarts in over nineteen years, and I don’t want to see another student go.” McGonagall seems to be reminiscing in bad memories, and Josh takes that as his cue to leave. He stands up and fixes his robes. “Thank you for telling me all of this. You’re incredibly brave Josh.”

He blushes. “No one’s ever told me that before.”

“Perhaps deep down, you’re a true Gryffindor.”

Josh smiles. He feels a sudden burst of confidence, because Josh knows he’s about to do everything he’s ever been against. “No offense ma’am, but my heart belongs in Hufflepuff.” And with that, Josh walks out the door.

-

“Okay, tell me why you brought me out to these creepy woods at 11 o’clock at night?” Mark stares at Josh with his arms crossed. “And why is Zack here?”

“Because this is my fight too,” he argues. Josh scowls.

“Mark, you’re smart, and I need your help. _We_ need your help. Tyler is in grave danger-”

“And the adults told us to leave it to them. They actually know what they’re talking about, believe it or not-”

“You know we can’t just sit back and let them take care of it. Tyler is our friend, and he needs us. Mark, you know I’m like the last person to do anything dangerous and break the rules, but I’m asking for your help here.”

Mark stares at Josh for a really long time, his brow furrowed in concentration. Josh bites his lip.

And finally, he sighs in defeat. “Fine. I’ll help. But if we get caught, I’m blaming you.”

Josh pumps his fist by his side. “Okay, look. We know Tyler had some sort of meeting with a snake out in these woods-”

“So that’s your plan? Find the snake? Josh, that’s ridiculous. If this mysterious person is using Tyler as their puppet, they’re probably hiding somewhere near the school. That’s how they can control him.”

“If I had to bet, it’s probably some low life Death Eater.” Zack adds.

“What, do they want Tyler to be the new Voldemort?”

“I assume they might want to start fresh, although I can’t imagine why.” Mark pushes fingers into his eyes and sighs loudly.

Josh’s face lights up. “They want a pure, untampered soul. Tyler’s perfect, he’s young, he’s innocent, they can feed off his energy-”

“And with a young face, they can blend in.”

Mark’s own face goes pale. “You don’t think they’re using the Imperius curse, do you?”

“Possibly. All I know is that we need to get this person locked away in Azkaban for a long ass time.” Josh stares into the darkness of the forest and shivers. He doesn’t want to think about all the horrible creatures lurking around in there, or the sick , twisted person who has Tyler under their control. “They’re bound to come out soon, don’t you think? What with that Dark lord stuff they had Tyler spewing.”

“Wait, what?” Mark’s pupils swell in size. “What happened?”

“He, had some sort of spell,” Zack starts, shifting uncomfortably, “his eyes were red and he was hissing, like, like some kind of snake.”

“Parseltongue?”

“Kind of, but we could understand what he was saying. Thing is though, Tyler’s spoken it before.”

“He, _what?”_ Mark looks like he’s about to pass out.

“We just don’t know if he can actually speak it or if it’s one of the effects from the spell.”

“So when you said you were mad at him, and he, he passed out, he, he was... dark magic?” Mark starts hyperventilating and Josh thwacks him on the back a couple of times.

“Come on Mark, pull yourself together. We have to save him, okay? There isn’t much time left. I don’t want Tyler to die. I, I...” Josh sucks in a deep breath. It’s time people know. “I love him.”

“We all love him,” Mark starts with a wave of his hand, and Zack tugs on his elbow to shut him up. That’s when the realization hits. “Oh. You... you love him?”

Josh nods. “I do. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and if he dies, I don’t know what I’ll do with myself.”

Zack clears his throat. “When, when did you guys, start, like-”

“Year four. We’ve been sneaking around ever since, finding new places to test the limits and avoid getting caught.”

Mark’s eyebrows furrow; he still looks confused. “So all those times you would giggle with him, and you guys would talk about something that only the two of you knew about... you went to go make out?”

“Pretty much,” says Josh.

“Huh.”

“Can we do what we came here to do now? As much as I’m glad my brother has someone like you Josh, I really don’t want to talk about you kissing him.”

“Fine, okay. I have some sort of idea.” Josh turns towards the forest and points his wand in front of him. It’s sycamore wood, the colour of butterscotch, at 10 3/4 inches with unicorn hair. Maybe that’s why he’s so cocky all of a sudden; he knows with a wand like that he can’t be manipulated by dark magic. _“Homenum Revelio.”_

There’s a sudden uneasy pit in his stomach, and immediately Josh knows there’s a person hiding in the woods. A person that does not belong there.

“Well?” asks Mark impatiently. “Maybe you did it wrong.”

“No,” Josh whispers. “There’s someone in there.”

“Wait,” Zack says, leaning forward, “Do you guys see that? There’s an orange light-”

Josh squints, he’s trying to think of spells with orange light, but he can’t think of any, and then there’s heat, and a roaring sound that reminds him of a train. “That’s fire, guys, that’s FIRE!”

He pushes Zack and Mark to the ground right as a wave of fire explodes out of the forest above them, catching several trees on fire. The three boys watch in horror as the fire spreads to the field, giant orange flames turning the dead grass into ash.

 _“Aguamenti!”_ Josh yells over the roar of the flames, fumbling with his wand as a small stream of water shoots out the top. Mark pushes Josh out of the way.

“No you idiot, that’s not gonna work! You need the bigger one, oh my God, I can’t think of the bigger one-”

“Uh, maybe we should just go get a teacher, this is getting to be out of control-”

“Shut up Zack!” Josh racks his brain, try to think as hard as can. “Come on Josh, come on, come on... Ah! I got it! _Aqua Erecto!”_

The stream grows bigger, but it’s still not enough. The three step further away, the heat becoming unbearable.

“Josh this is NOT WORKING!” Mark is panicking now, tripping over his own feet and falling onto his butt. He scrambles back up and starts running away, Zack right at his side. The fire grows bigger, becomes more uncontrollable.

Out of the corner of his eye, Josh sees a hooded figure dart out of the forest. He backs up slowly, wand still pointed at the deafening flames. “Guys, guys, I saw them! They went that way!”

“Forget it Josh, we’re going to get ourselves killed!” Mark and Zack are halfway across the grounds now, almost to the entrance to the castle. Josh groans in irritation before turning to follow them.

-

Half of the staff spends the rest of the night putting the flames out, while the three of them sit in McGonagall’s office with their heads down. They know they’re in big trouble now.

She comes in and sits at her desk looking absolutely exhausted. Josh supposes he would have been as well, if he had spent all night extinguishing fires. “I can’t express how stupid the three of you were.” her voice is low and calm. “Going off into the middle of the night looking for a person who might not even be there-”

“But they _were_ there,” Zack pipes up, and McGonagall has fury in her eyes.

“You boys could have gotten yourselves killed. Whoever was in the forest, they’re dangerous, and the fire they caused-”

“We’re doing more than any of you are!” Josh stands up, his voice raising in volume. He knows he’s making a poor decision yelling at the headmistress, but he can’t handle it anymore. “My best friend, Zack’s brother, Mark’s friend, is lying in there under the curse of dark magic just waiting to _die!”_

“Mr. Dun, please sit down.” she doesn’t raise her voice. “I understand your fear-”

“Like hell you do!”

“But we can’t risk his life, I certainly don’t want three young boys chasing after someone dabbling in the dark arts-”

“I’m willing to risk my life if that means Tyler is gonna be okay! It’s better than waiting here, being sitting ducks-”

“Enough! I will not allow you to speak to me that way, whether you are upset or not. I’m disgusted the three of you would even try and do something so dangerous. You will all serve a detention, and fifty points will be deducted from each house.”

Mark was pale. He had never lost points for anything. “Professor-”

“You can’t,” Zack starts.

“I can, and I will. You're lucky I'm not taking away more. We will take care of your friend on our own. I forbid you from coming anywhere near the hospital wing.”

Josh looks like he’s about to cry. “I can’t do that, he’s my best friend-”

“I understand Mr. Dun, but there are precautions we have to take. Please listen to me when I say I understand your pain. I’ve had students in the past go through the same things. When students get involved, all hell breaks loose.” she sighs. “You’re all dismissed. Please return back to your dorms.”

Josh is numb as Mark leads him out. He knows McGonagall is right, and he also knows that she isn’t going to stop him, not if he can help it, but he still can’t help but feel absolutely awful.

The three stop in the main hall before parting. Josh sniffs. “I’m sorry for getting you guys in trouble.”

“I don’t care,” Zack says. “I admire you for what you said back there Josh. We aren’t going to give up, are we?”

“I’m not giving up until Tyler is back to normal again.”

“Mark?” The Ravenclaw boy pushes his foot into the stone floor and sighs loudly.

“Okay, okay, I’m in. I want Tyler to be safe too.”

“And he will be, if it’s the last thing I do.”

-

Another week passes. Whispers fill the halls about the three boys that set the Forbidden Forest on fire.

Mark grumbles under his breath as he sits across from Josh in the library. Josh is reading some advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts book from the restricted section, trying to learn all he can about what Tyler got himself into.

“You know what Josh? I’m sick of this. We didn’t start those damn fires, we _tried_ to put them out, and it failed. So we went and got help. If we hadn’t the school probably would have burned down.”

“They don’t know what’s going on. It’s better to leave them in the dark.”

“The great news is that I’ve never seen the Slytherin house be so quiet.” he grins. It’s small and pitiful. “Too bad we can’t go to the match.” Josh, Zack, and Mark had been banned, as a part of their punishment, from seeing the Quidditch match. Josh probably wouldn’t have gone anyways.

“Wouldn’t be the same without Tyler playing.” Josh doesn’t look up from his book.

“Josh... you aren’t...” Mark trails off, unable to figure out how to structure his sentence. Josh slams the book shut and stands up. “Josh, I’m really sorry.”

He shrugs. “That’s what we’re trying to fix.”

Mark watches him leave.

-

The next morning, Josh wakes up to screams.

He’s scrambling out of bed in seconds, tripping over his own feet to find out what’s going on. Turns out he’s not the only one, because there are other Hufflepuffs making their way out of the common room as well.

It is the entryway where Josh finds a nasty surprise.

There are a few girls huddled next to each other, their eyes red with tears and wide with fright, as they stare at the message written sloppily on the wall in crimson. _That’s blood. Oh no._

 

**_Nice try_ **

 

He swallows nervously, knowing that message is for him. Who else would it be for? Josh was the only person to see them escape.

“There’s a person over here!” Josh turns his head towards a boy, who’s pointing to a lifeless lump on the ground, blood still streaming from their arm. This must have been recent then.

Josh makes his way around a stack of barrels, and his heart stops when he sees who it is.

“Go get McGonagall,” he says firmly to anyone listening, dropping to his knees. Tyler’s eyes are hollow, with a dark purple tint to them, and he looks so weak, like he could break any second. Josh feels tears start to fall down his cheeks.

They might be too late by the time they can do anything.

 _“Episkey,”_ he mutters, happy for once that he insisted on always having his wand with him no matter what, and rests a little bit easier when Tyler’s wound heals. It makes his eyes look a tad better too, but Josh is starting to think nothing will make him _truly_ better. He hugs Tyler to his chest, unable to let go.

“Josh,” McGonagall calls out as she rushes down the kitchen corridor, Flitwick and Longbottom on her heel. Josh is glad she brought Professor Longbottom with her.

However, the three stop when they notice the message smeared on the wall.

“Oh my,” she murmurs, looking somber. The other Hufflepuff students seem even more afraid now.

“Do you think the person that did this... is still inside?” asks Flitwick.

“They used Tyler,” Josh speaks up without turning his head. He pushes a sweaty lock of hair off Tyler’s forehead. His hair was getting so long and chaotic; Josh knew how much Tyler hated that, how much he liked to keep his hair short, or at least tamed. “Some psychopath had Tyler carve himself up to leave a message on the wall.”

McGonagall sighs. “Neville, please take Mr. Joseph back to the hospital wing, I will be up shortly. As for you Mr. Dun, I reckon we need to have another chat.”

“Alright, back into the common room,” Flitwick ushers the murmuring crowd back towards the entrance while Professor Longbottom ducks down to meet Josh’s level. He puts on a sympathetic smile.

“We’ll make sure he gets healed up,” he whispers. Josh sniffs.

“I tried to heal the minor cuts and scrapes, it healed his main wound-”

“I’ll come get you from McGonagall as soon as she’s done talking to you, alright? Then you can go visit him.”

“She told me I couldn’t see him.” Josh’s eyes start watering again and his grip tightens. He doesn’t want to let go.

“We won’t tell her then, okay?” he winks. “I promise Josh. Please.” Longbottom opens his arms, and with a sigh of defeat, Josh helps move Tyler into them. Tyler always had been skinny, but now his skin looks like it has been stretched over bones ready to snap any second, and his clothes look four times too big on him.

The Professor cradles Tyler to his chest as he disappears down the corridor. Josh doesn’t move from the floor, tears still running down his cheeks.

Next thing he knows, he’s sitting across from Professor McGonagall, picking at loose threads from his plaid pajama pants.

“That message was for you?” she asks bluntly. Josh nods.

“I was the only one of the three of us to see them run. They darted across the field after starting the fire. I was also the one to use the human locator spell.” he sniffs.

“This is why I told you not to get involved, if you would have-”

“I can’t sit there and _not_ get involved Professor. I’m sorry for speaking back to you and being disrespectful, but I need to put forth my full effort to try and save my friend’s life, and I’m a little insulted you haven’t done anything to try and help in the least. You keep saying I need to stay away, but look where that’s putting us! I have reason to believe that this person is planning on using Tyler to resurrect everything the ministry worked so hard to end. They want to bring destruction, and Tyler is how they’re going to do it.”

“What makes you think this?”

“Think about it Professor. This person has to know some pretty dark magic, has to be _good_ at using it, to control a young adult. Tyler’s the perfect choice. He was already interested in overstepping his boundaries, they just gave him that push. The fact that they can knock him out and wake him up to do their bidding whenever sounds pretty advanced to me, doesn’t it?”

“So... so he must have Slytherin blood in his body, if they want to use him to start fresh... that would mean he is a parselmouth.” McGonagall seems stumped by this information, and she rests her head in her hands briefly. “The last time we had a student who could speak parseltongue was over nineteen years ago.” a hint of a smile rises to her lips. “You remind me of that boy in a number of ways Mr. Dun.”

Heat burns on his cheeks. Josh ignores it. “They’re waiting, waiting for something. They want us to know what’s coming. What if...” Josh doesn’t want to think about the possibility. “What if they’re _in_ the school?”

“We’ll check the school. I’ll have all the students gather in the great hall while we conduct our search.” She sighs again. “Never thought we’d have to do this again...”

“What about Tyler?”

“I will allow you to stay in the hospital wing with him and Longbottom. From now on, I want you under adult supervision, just in case they come after you again. We are going to increase security.” McGonagall rubs at her forehead. She’s stressed, trying to decide what’s best for everyone. Josh realizes that’s gotta be a tough job. Maybe he misjudged her. “Come along, Mr. Dun, let’s go.”

“Thank you,” he says, leaning in to hug her. McGonagall is taken back, her eyes wide, before she settles down and wraps her arms around the boy.

“Not even Dumbledore could have prepared me for this.”

-

Up in the infirmary, Josh sits in a chair next to Tyler’s bed. He’s aware Longbottom is across from him, but that hasn’t stopped Josh from running fingers through Tyler’s hair.

“Pomfrey’s a bit irritated, isn’t she? Your friend won’t really stay put.” Professor Longbottom chuckles nervously. He’s twisting his hands in his lap uncomfortably.

Josh doesn’t reply. He’s focusing all his energy into stroking Tyler’s hair.

“They’re searching the school right now. McGonagall told me she’s going to have people looking after you, just in case.”

“Yeah,” he mumbles.

“I’ll uhm, I’ll give you a moment. Should probably talk to Pomfrey, get a little better grasp of the situation...” the Professor stammers and trails off, standing up to go speak with the nurse on the other side of the hospital wing. The whole situation is awkward, but Josh appreciates Professor Longbottom more than he ever thought he would.

Josh pads a fingertip over Tyler’s cheekbones, his jawline, down the bridge of his nose. He tries to remember the last time they had snuck off giggling just to kiss each other. It felt like ages ago.

“Josh!” at the mention of his name, Josh looks up as Mark and Zack come running into the hospital wing.

“How did you guys get in here? You’re supposed to be down in the Great Hall.”

“We snuck up here,” Zack grins, “Flitwick accidentally spilled the beans, and he’s the Ravenclaw head of house, so he took pity on Mark. I just tagged along.”

“Ravenclaw won the match!” Mark cheers, and when Josh glares at him, he stutters over his words. “I mean, boo, how horrible, Ravenclaw won the match...”

“There’s rumours going around that there was a message written on the wall outside the Hufflepuff basement.”

“Yeah,” Josh answers, straightening the thin blanket pulled over Tyler’s torso, “It was for me. I already talked to McGonagall about it.”

“It was for you? Well, what did it say?”

“‘Nice try.’ They had Tyler use, use his blood.”

“Jesus,” Mark shakes his head sadly. “Things are getting worse.”

“Are they searching the school for any signs of a break in? For the person that’s using Tyler?”

Josh nods. “They’re amping up security too. And I’m not going to be able to go anywhere without a teacher on my heel...”

“We’re still going after this person though, right?”

Mark gasps. “Zack, they had Tyler _cut himself open_ and write a message with his own blood. You wanna go after a person that dangerous?”

“Yeah!” Zack raises his voice a little, puffing up his chest, “He’s my brother!”

“Mark, for someone to control another person, to manipulate and send messages through them, how close would they have to be?”

“Pretty close, at least close enough to mutter spells.”

“So, would they be in the school?”

“Could be. I don’t know how they would hide though, what with all the searching they’re doing...”

“Wait...” Zack taps his chin with a finger, “There are other places they could hide, places-”

“What are you boys doing in here? Out, get out!” Madam Pomfrey storms towards Zack and Mark angrily, Professor Longbottom on her heel.

“You two are supposed to be in the Great Hall!”

“We only came to offer support to Josh,” Mark starts, but Pomfrey is not having it.

“Longbottom, take the three of them downstairs. I need to treat this boy.”

“Yes ma’am,” he replies, ushering the three boys out of the room. Josh scowls, but he assumes it’s probably for the best. He latches a hand on Zack’s shoulder.

“What were you saying?”

“Tomorrow night, you and Mark meet me outside Gryffindor Tower. We can talk there.”

Josh nods, his stomach twisting into knots.

-

“Josh.”

With a small grumble, Josh turns on his side and pulls his blankets tighter around his body.

“Josh, psst, babe.” his bed squeaks and suddenly there’s a person wrapping warm arms around his torso. Josh jerks, now wide awake as he stares into Tyler’s dark eyes.

“Tyler?” he’s surprised, his heart swelling, as he pulls Tyler into a big hug. “Wha, what are you doing here? How did you-”

“I broke out of it. I don’t know how, but I just, I woke up, and I came straight here. You’re so brave Josh, trying to save me, and I can’t believe all the stuff you did for me, it’s unbelievable. I love you so much.” he tightens his arm around Josh’s waist and pulls him in for a kiss. Josh closes his eyes, his mind spinning, as he melts into the mattress. Tyler’s fingers curl in Josh’s hair.

He’s in love, he’s so in love, and Tyler’s _okay,_ he’s okay, and everything can be fine now.

“I love you too,” Josh mumbles against Tyler’s mouth. “I’m going to make sure you never get hurt ever again.”

“Let’s forget about all this stuff, and just focus on each other for now, okay? I wanna treat you.” his lips trail down Josh’s jaw, one of his hands tugging on the waistband of Josh’s pjs, when the lightbulb in his bedside lamp explodes. Josh pulls away in surprise, watching as one by one, each lightbulb blows out, leaving the room pitch black. He waves a hand in front of his face, a pit forming in his stomach. The mattress dips as Tyler pushes off.

“Tyler?” Josh stands up too, grabbing the headboard on his way up. It’s so dark, he’s struggling to figure out where everything is. “Tyler? Where’d you go?”

The room fills with whispers that all sound like hissing. Josh backs farther into the wall, shrinking. Maybe he can just disappear. Where’s everyone else? Why is no one else freaking out about this?

 _“You’ll pay...”_ a pair of bright red eyes appear in the middle of the room.

“Ty-Tyler?” Josh has stopped breathing.

 _“Avada Kadavra!”_ The room fills with green light and every inch of Josh’s body fills with pain.

Seconds later, Josh wakes up covered in sweat and gasping for air. Sunlight shines in through the windows and he blinks a couple of times. _It was just a dream, just a dream..._

The tips of his fingers and toes tingle. He feels awful.

“Nightmare?” asks a boy who’s digging through his trunk for a pair of socks. “You were muttering something, I wanted to wake you up but you don’t seem like you wanna be touched.”

“Oh uh, yeah. No, I’m fine.” Josh flops back onto his bed and sighs loudly.

-

That night, Josh darts up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower, his heat accelerating. Getting out of the Hufflepuff basement without being caught had proven rather difficult, what with all the adults he had watching him, and the idea of caretaker Filch finding him was not satisfying either.

When he gets there, Zack and Mark are standing right outside the portrait of the fat lady, who had been mumbling about the fact that Zack had woke her up only to stand right outside the common room.

“Psst,” Josh whispers as he approaches the two. Zack grins. “Okay, what’s so important that I had to risk getting caught to come up here?”

“Yeah,” Mark says, tapping his foot impatiently, “Let’s get a move on.”

“Okay look. There are other ways to get into Hogwarts... like, secret ways. Tunnels, actually.”

“What?”

“I’m serious. There’s seven in total. Now, the caretaker knows about four of them; one of them is completely blocked off, no one bothered to fix it, and one of them is underneath the whomping willow, so stay away from that one. But there’s one that leads to the basement of Honeydukes in Hogsmeade. They could be hiding in Hogsmeade and controlling Tyler right through that tunnel!” Zack exclaims as he tugs on Josh’s sleeve, beckoning the two to follow him. Mark grumbles under his breath as follows, probably about getting caught or something.

“Woah, wait, how on earth do you know this?” Josh pulls away in disbelief. Out of all people, it’s _Zack_ that knows about Hogwart’s secrets.

“Some of the older kids. Things get around, ‘specially in the Gryffindor house.” he grins. “Okay, look. I’ll show you.”

Zack leads them to a statue of a one-eyed witch. “See here, you just tap the statute with your wand and say _‘Dissendium.’_ Easy enough, right?”

“Yeah, sure,” Josh replies, wide eyed. He knows he should be terrified about the fact that a crazy person wanting to control the world with dark magic could be hiding in a tunnel underneath the school, but Josh finds himself also thinking that a secret tunnel would be the perfect place to hide and make out in. “You... you really think they could be hiding in there?”

“It would make the most sense to me.”

“You want to go into a secret tunnel _now? Alone?”_ Mark gapes. “You guys, we can’t-”

“There’s no guarantee they’ll be there-”

“But still!”

“Mark, you said you were willing to help.” Josh turns to face the shaking Ravenclaw boy. “This is Tyler’s life we’re talking about. Doesn’t that mean anything?”

Mark huffs, but his face softens. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. We gotta save Tyler.”

“We’re gonna save my brother.” Zack closes his eyes for a few seconds and takes a deep breath through his nose. “Josh, you wanna do the honors?”

Josh faces the statue and whispers, _“Dissendium,”_ tapping the stone with his wand. He’s shaking just a little bit, but the thing is, he’s not scared. If he dies, at least he died trying to save Tyler’s life. Tyler coming out okay is all he needs for this mission to be a success.

The three climb through the stone and topple down a slick, stone slide. At the end, they land on damp ground. _“Lumos,”_ says Mark, and the tunnel fills with light. It’s low and muggy, and the atmosphere is eerie. Josh shivers.

Zack glances around. “Well, this is it alright. If you go far enough, you’ll end up in Hogsmeade.”

“And you think this is where the person controlling Tyler has been staying?” Mark seems skeptical about that idea.

“There’s other tunnels. They could be moving around underneath the school.”

“Jesus. Right under our noses.” Mark shakes his head and moves his wand farther, shadows dancing on the dirt walls.

“I think we should look around.” Josh pushes Mark forward a little bit, Zack in tow. They walk a few feet, stumbling on uneven ground, before Mark stops again, all the colour draining from his face.

“Shh,” he flings an arm out, stopping Josh and Zack from walking. They listen carefully.

“Footsteps?” mouths Zack. Mark looks as pale as a ghost.

“You boys are complete idiots.” Around a corner comes a hooded figure, the same one Josh saw dart out of the field, and...

Tyler.

His eyes are bright red, just like they had been in the hospital wing that night, just like they had been in Josh’s dream. Not only that, but his skin is pale, cheekbones hollow, and _god,_ he looks so sick, like he’s ready to drop to the ground dead any second. Josh supposes that’s what happens when you’re being used for dark magic.

He knew Tyler was sick, but seeing him here makes Josh realize how real this situation is. He can’t afford to chicken out, not now. Josh takes a deep breath, withdraws his wand, and steps forward. “Leave Tyler alone.”

The hooded figure laughs and waves a hand.

 _“Crucio,”_ Tyler hisses, and in seconds Mark and Zack are writhing on the ground, screaming uncontrollably, in a blast of red light. Mark’s wand rolls down the tunnel, their only source of light turning their meeting into a thousand shadows.

Horrified, Josh points his wand at Tyler, but his hands are shaking so much that he can’t hold it steady. He realizes he might not be able to do anything. He can’t hurt Tyler. “How... how did you know we would be here?”

“Oh please, you stupid children are terrible at keeping things secret. I knew what was coming from the beginning.” they stumble a little, holding onto the wall like it’s their lifeline. “This cursed school has ruined everything the Dark Lord worked so hard to prepare for the world. It’s so great your friend here was so willing to participate.”

“You brainwashed him!”

“I did no such thing. He _belongs_ to the dark side. Look at this boy. A descendant of Salazar Slytherin, a parselmouth, such a perfect choice. He was always so obsessed with discovering his passion. He was meant for something great, and here it is.”

“You’re never going to get away with this!” Josh yells, getting angrier by the second. “Tyler’s the nicest person I’ve ever met, he’ll never give up so easily.”

“It’s dumb kids like you that mess everything up.” they sigh, finally pulling back their hood to reveal a bald man with sickening pale skin, his eyes rimmed red. He looks terminally ill, even sicker than Tyler. It’s obvious the man is dying. “I might not be able to repay Lord Voldemort for all he has done for me, but I will certainly not die before I’m able to have Lord Voldemort’s legacy carried on.” the man waves his hand, and Tyler growls.

 _“Expulso!”_ the ground underneath Josh’s feet explodes, slamming him into a wall. Josh slumps to the ground with a groan and feels for his wand. Tyler’s back on him in seconds. _“Incendio!”_

 _“Incendio!”_ Josh manages to shout back seconds after, and two bolts of colour meet in the center. He scoots back a little, gripping his wand like a lifeline as the knockback sends Tyler spiraling into the dying man.

It must have taken him by surprise, because it breaks the Cruciatus curse just long enough for Mark and Zack to catch their breath.

“You will pay boy!” shouts the man as he hoists himself up with the wall. Tyler shoots another bolt, his teeth clenched, and Josh barely manages to roll out of the way. He takes a second to catch his breath as well. “You don’t know anything! You don’t understand how powerful we could be! I’m on my way out, but if you were to join the Joseph boy, think of all the power you would have! You’d be unstoppable. Carry on what Voldemort truly wanted!”

“It’s not about that! I don’t want to be powerful! And I will _certainly_ not do anything for Voldemort!”

“Josh, look out!” Mark manages to push out of the way of a bolt, which hits him right in the stomach, and he flies twenty feet down the tunnel before rolling a couple of times. His arm lays at an odd angle and his eyes flop shut.

“MARK!” Josh screams, his eyes wide as he flips back to face Tyler. Zack hoists himself next to Josh and rests a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m here,” he whispers.

The man laughs heinously. “Family first, hmm?”

Zack points his wand forward at his older brother, his bottom lip trembling. “ _Expelli-”_

Before he can finish the spell, Zack gets thrown just as far as Mark, his head hitting a stone sticking out of the wall. He lands painfully next to the Ravenclaw boy, blood trailing down his forehead.

Josh takes a few steps back. This might be the end of all of this.

“Enough. I am done playing with you. What do you say? Are you willing to help bring back the Dark Lord’s work? Face it, you’ve lost. Lord Voldemort gave us everything. You could have everything you ever wanted.”

Josh squeezes his eyes shut and reminds himself to be brave. When he opens them, Tyler is standing there, his eyes still red, still full of malice and pain. He tilts his chin up just a little bit. “That’s where you're wrong mister, because there was one thing Lord Voldemort didn’t have, and that was love. Because that boy, no, _man,_ you have control of, I love him more than anything in the world, and I will die loving him. I will die if it means he can be freed of this curse. Love is our only means of protection.” Josh finishes, straightens his posture, and suddenly, all his fear is gone. He’s come to terms with dying here. _“Incen-”_

 _“Expelliarmus!”_ Josh’s wand flies out of his hand and into Tyler’s, whose lips turn into a destructive grin.

“I am done playing games. Joseph, move out of the way, I want to do this.”

Josh does not cower. He stands taller and looks into Tyler’s eyes. “I love you Tyler. Please know that.”

 _“Avada Kedavra!”_ and in a blast of green light, everything goes black.

-

“Professor Mcgonagall, I don’t _care_ what Madam Pomfrey has to say, he’s my best friend, and I’m going to sit here until he wakes up-”

“Mr. Eshleman, I‘m not going to fight you on this one, you should be attending class, studying for exams-”

“Oh come on, exams are _two months_ away! We almost died by a crazy death eater who had Tyler brainwashed, not only that but he broke my _arm,_ please Professor.”

She sighs. “Oh alright. You have an hour and then you have to leave, understand? He needs his rest. They both do.”

“Yes ma’am.” the bed creaks and there’s a hand on his leg.

“I’ll go talk to Pomfrey. I want no funny business Mr. Eshleman, understand?”

“Yes ma’am,” repeats Mark. Footsteps shuffle away, and Josh groans, his face grimaced in pain as he forces himself to sit up and open his eyes. “Jesus Josh, you’re _okay!”_

Josh looks around. Mark looks fine, he’s grinning, and his arm is back to normal. In the bed next to him is Tyler, who’s got a nasty cut running through his eyebrow. He doesn’t look like he’s woken up yet, but his breaths are calm and it settles the pit in Josh’s stomach. “What the hell happened?”

“After Tyler flung me halfway down the tunnel, I passed out for a little bit, because pain, like dude, the _bone_ came out of my arm,” Mark shakes his head in disbelief and rolls up the sleeve of his robe to show Josh the ragged red scar. “Pomfrey fixed it, but the scar’s still there. Anyways, I like, woke up a little I guess, because I heard that guy use the killing curse, and next thing I know Tyler’s shoving you out of the way and the whole tunnel is covered in green light. And that guy, he, he... he turned into ash. So then Tyler passed out, and I made my way back to Hogwarts, which _God_ was really hard to do with a broken arm, and I found McGonagall. She and a few other teachers went down the tunnel to find you. So now they know about the tunnel, whoops, but I feel like they secretly already knew about it anyways.” Mark shrugs. “Zack’s okay too, all he has is a bruise and a small cut. He’s probably back in Gryffindor Tower; it’s been a few days.”

 _“A few days?”_ Josh’s mouth drops as he pushes himself farther up the bed. “Seriously?”

“You were passed out for a long time man. I guess being that close to death really put a toll on you. Tyler too, although he looks a bit more healthier, right?” Mark takes a moment to look at Tyler sleeping next to them. He’s right; Tyler’s skin is a bit tanner, his eyes aren’t as hollow, and he doesn’t seem to be in as much pain. “We’re waiting for him to wake up. Pomfrey’s not sure how long that’ll take though. Hopefully soon. I think soon. You know, Tyler’s a fighter.”

“He sure is,” replies Josh as he takes another look at Tyler next to him. “What’s everyone else saying? Do they know?”

“McGonagall tried to keep most of it secret, and everyone already knew Tyler was really sick, but it might of slipped that you survived the killing curse...”

“But it never actually hit me. Tyler pushed me out of the way, do people know that?”

Mark grins. “Nope. They’re calling you the new Harry Potter.”

Josh scowls.

“Don’t worry big guy, the teachers are giving you a two week extension on all the homework you missed.”

“Oh, how thoughtful.”

“That’s what I said.” Mark’s grin grows bigger, and suddenly he’s wrapping his arms around Josh tightly. In surprise, Josh lets his arms hang limply at his sides. Mark had never really hugged him before.

“Are you...? You’re hugging me.”

“Yeah,” Mark says, “I am. Because I’m glad you’re alive, and I’m even more glad that you’re my friend. You’re the most badass Hufflepuff I’ve ever met.”

Even though he’s blushing, Josh finally manages to wrap his arms around Mark’s torso and squeezes him back.

Their conversation ends only minutes later when Madam Pomfrey kicks Mark out and tells Josh to get some rest. She was keeping him over the weekend, just to make sure his vitals were okay and he wasn’t going to pass out the minute he had to walk. Mark and Zack pop in to say hello; Mark was right, Zack does have a pretty nasty bruise on his forehead, but he’s parading around with his head held high and his chest puffed up, fabricating stories about how he beat up a follower of Voldemort (Nobody believes him.) They come to check in on Tyler too, who still hasn’t woken up yet. They’re hopeful though. After all they went through, they have enough in them to be hopeful.

Josh even gets a visit from Professor Longbottom, who brings him a flower. It’s huge, with pink petals, and he lays it in Josh’s lap.

“When I was younger,” he starts, looking off into the distance like he’s thinking really hard. “I was the most cowardly person in the whole world. The older I got, and the longer I was at this school, I realized my true potential. I found my bravery, and realized why I was put in the Gryffindor house all along. You Josh, you’ve always been one of my favourite students, mostly because I saw a lot of potential in you, and you reminded me of myself in a number of ways.” he smiles. “I fought in the war against Voldemort and his followers. My courage in that fight shaped who I am today. And I hope you can learn from what happened to you and apply it in the future.”

“Thank you for telling me that Professor. That means a lot.”

Longbottom patted Josh’s knee. “I know you don’t really hate Herbology. Deep down, you love it. ‘Sides, you’re a Hufflepuff. You’re good at it.”

Josh only shakes his head.

-

Sunday evening, Tyler wakes up.

He shifts, head pounding, as he comes to his senses. Tyler doesn’t remember much. He keeps seeing flashes of green light like it’s branded on the back of his eyelids and his entire body feels sore.

Tyler lets out a loud cough and props himself up onto his elbows. The room is covered in low light, and as his eyes adjust, he comes to the conclusion that he’s the only one in the room.

Until, “Tyler?”

He knows that warm, velvety voice like the back of his hand. Josh stares at him with wide, watering eyes, and the next thing he knows, Josh is hugging him so tightly he can’t breathe. He’s crying too, sobbing so hard Tyler can’t understand a word he’s saying.

“Hey buddy, relax a little. I have no clue what you’re trying to say.”

Josh sits up and sniffs, wiping his nose with his hand. He keeps looking at Tyler like he can’t believe he’s alive. It puts an uneasy pit in his stomach. “I’m so happy you’re okay. I’m so happy that you’re _alive.”_

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh do you...? You don’t remember, do you?”

“Last thing I really remember is Christmas break. Why, what happened? Why am I in the infirmary?”

“Tyler, you were... you were being controlled by an old Death Eater. He was using your energy to try and bring back Voldemort’s legacy. He wanted you to start a new generation of Death Eaters.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Tyler rubs at his forehead. He can’t believe this. “What? Why me? Why-” he pauses abruptly when it hits him. “The snake. I spoke to him. I spoke in Parseltongue. And the book from Slughorn’s office, also Parseltongue... Oh my God.” he feels like he’s about to faint, and Josh seems to notice, because he reaches out a hand to steady him.

“It’s okay Ty, I don’t think that’s going to bother you anymore. Voldemort’s gone, remember? And hopefully all ties to him as well. I overheard the teachers talking about it.” Tyler relaxes a bit and sighs.

“I suppose part of this is my fault. I always had an interest in doing stuff I wasn’t supposed to, and the dark arts were no exception.”

“Except you _didn’t_ give in Tyler, because you had the one thing strong enough to break the curse: love. You saved my life.”

Green light flashes behind his eyelids again and he finally knows what it means. “The Killing Curse? I... I broke out of the spell to save you?”

“Yeah. Mark, Zack and I, we made a plan to try and save you. Zack is really brave Tyler; he faced a Death Eater and got thrown down a tunnel. Not only that, but he saved us from a fiery death, and showed us the way to where you and the Death Eater were. He’s even got the bruises to prove it. Your brother loves you more than you could ever know.”

Tyler blinks. Zack did that all for him? Suddenly his petty jealousy for his brother the Gryffindor didn’t seem worth it anymore. “I can’t believe the three of you risked your lives to save me. Especially you Josh, I can only imagine the amount of _rules_ you had to break-”

Josh interrupts him with a scoff; his cheeks are flushed red and he ducks his head so all his long shaggy hair falls in his face. Tyler reaches out to tilt Josh’s chin up. There’s something different about Josh. He’s braver, wiser, more confident about himself.

“When’s the last time we kissed?”

“Second week in December,” he murmurs. Tyler pulls the older boy into his lap and kisses him hard, putting as much passion into it as he can, because he loves Josh more than anything in the whole world. It hadn’t been him that broke the curse; it was the love he shared for the Hufflepuff boy.

A hand snakes around Josh’s waist. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

-

“Oh come on Professor, you gotta let me play! It’s been a month!” Tyler chases after Professor McGonagall across the grounds of the school with his broomstick in his hand. McGonagall sighs, this is the third him he’s asked her, and she’s probably getting very annoyed, but for the first time there’s a slight grin on her face.

“Pomfrey doesn’t think it’s the best idea Mr. Joseph, you have been bedridden for several months-”

“I’m caught up on all my homework, I’m studying for our exams, and I feel _fine,_ oh please let me play, please!”

She sighs again. “Okay, okay. I suppose one game won’t kill you.” her smirk widens, and Tyler’s darting across to the Quidditch pitch to join his team. He’s ecstatic; a successful Quidditch practice is the final puzzle piece in getting his life back together.

The entire Slytherin team had visited him while he was in the infirmary, exclaiming how much they missed him, how awful it was without him as their captain, and how they couldn’t wait for him to come back.

“We lost to Ravenclaw, but if we come back against Hufflepuff, we still might have a chance at winning the cup. Get better soon, okay?”

He had talked to Zack too, apologizing about fifty times for his behaviour, and thanking his younger brother for saving his life. The conversation had ended in a hug, which was a huge achievement for their relationship.

Josh is sitting in the stands when Tyler walks out onto the pitch. He’s met with excitement and pats on the back (“She’s letting you play? Finally!”) Josh is grinning too.

That morning, Tyler soars.

Later, Josh drags Tyler down a corridor and to a statue of a witch with one eye. He can’t stop smiling, which makes Tyler extremely suspicious.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” he replies, pulling out his wand. Josh taps the statue, murmurs _“Dissendium,”_ and right before his eyes a hole appears in the stone. Josh pulls on his wrist again, and down they go. They walk for a good while amongst dirt walls before Josh stops him.

“If you go down far enough, you’ll end up in the Honeydukes cellar. Thought maybe we could go get some sweets and a glass of butterbeer or something.”

Tyler smirks. “Sneaking around, breaking the rules? What have you done with Josh Dun?”

Josh rolls his eyes. “Oh hush. You were right. It’s nice not having to worry about everything all the time.”

Tyler chuckles a little. “Yeah, I’d like that.” he watches the older boy take a step away from him and run fingertips along the dampened dirt wall.

“You know, this is where it happened.” Tyler knows exactly what Josh is talking about. He clears his throat.

“Really?” Josh looks lost, and Tyler assumes he’s remembering, running through the horrible events that took place.

“Yeah. Mark and Zack got knocked unconscious, and I thought I was going to die. But I didn’t.” Josh pushes Tyler against the wall and kisses him. It’s soft, warm, and Josh tastes like cinnamon.

When Josh pulls away, he’s grinning, his face the colour of strawberries. “What was that for?”

“We’re meant for each other, you know that?”

Tyler takes his hand and pulls him further down the tunnel. “I’ve always known that.”

-

“Dude, you know you’re a Hufflepuff right?” Mark says when Josh shows up to the Quidditch match with bright green hair. He grins.

“Of course I know that, and it would be fantastic if we won, but Tyler’s playing you know, so...”

Zack scoffs. “You’re crazy Josh.”

“You’re just salty because Gryffindor lost to Hufflepuff.”

“I would have caught that stupid snitch if I had been there a second early and you know it!”

Mark hushes him as he pulls out his ratty pair of binoculars. “Dudes, hush. It’s already proven that Gryffindor isn’t going to win the House Cup this year, so get over it.”

“Well it’s not going to be Ravenclaw either,” Zack mutters.

“You don’t know that,” Mark shoots back. “Look, the game is starting, so be quiet, okay?”

The stands fill with cheering as the game begins. Josh watches Tyler the whole time as he zip high into the clouds, showing off with a couple loop-de-loops, and catches the snitch almost ten minutes into the game. The Slytherin team puts him on their shoulders, raising him high into the air.

When Tyler joins the three of them, Josh doesn’t waste a single second before he’s swooping Tyler in for a kiss. Mark pretends to vomit and Zack gags, but the two don’t care.

“Hey, your hair’s green!” Tyler grins.

“You won! You won!” Josh cheers, and this time, Tyler kisses him.

-

The rest of the year is a whirlwind of papers, exams, and adventure, thanks to Josh. They meet in the library almost every night, where Mark makes them study and review for hours on end.

“Come on Tyler, one last time! It’s not even _that_ hard-”

After almost two hours of Transfiguration review, Tyler finally breaks. “That’s easy for you to say Mark, you’ll pass this exam with far over a hundred percent.” he pushes his chair out loudly. “I need a break.”

“You just wanna go make out with Josh.”

“That’s exactly what I wanna go do.”

“I did almost die you know,” Josh says. Mark groans.

“Stop using that as an excuse!”

“We’ll see you tomorrow Mark,” Tyler shouts over his shoulder as he pulls Josh around the corner and out of the library, grinning at the shoosh the librarian shoots at him.

“Don’t blame me when you fail all your exams!” Mark yells back, stacking all their papers together. The librarian shushes him too.

They walk for a while, past students and ghosts and paintings traveling between frames. Somehow, they find themselves outside, and with a glance back at the castle, Josh slips his hand into Tyler’s. He takes a deep breath and tilts his head up towards the dark sky. The stars twinkle, there’s so many of them, and it never fails to take his breath away.

“I wish I could go up there someday,” Josh whispers. Tyler squeezes his hand.

“Someday you might.” he sighs. “Josh, do you have nightmares? About that night?”

“We don’t have to keep talking about this.” Josh pulls away from his grasp and sits down in the grass. He starts pulling strands up and lets them fall through his fingers.

“No, I wanna talk about it. Josh, you almost died, and it was completely my fault.” Tyler lays down next to him and stares up at the sky.

“It wasn’t your fault Ty. How could you have known-”

“It _is_ my fault because I became obsessed with finding out who I truly was and what my purpose was. You know how stressed out I was being in the Slytherin house and having to hear how proud my father was of Zack. I know my dad was disappointed in me. I let that stupid hat’s words get to me and that’s what put us in this situation. I started to feel like maybe being, well, evil, was what I was supposed to do, and that’s why I got pulled in so easily. Thing is, I was always interested in finding out more about the Dark Arts. That’s why my marks are so high in Steward’s class: if I could learn all the ways people defend themselves, I could work around it.” he sighs loudly. “Knowing I have dark blood running through my veins, knowing I’m a parselmouth, it sort of just, it confirmed my theory, you know?”

“You aren’t evil Tyler. You’re far from evil.” Josh rolls over and props himself on an elbow. Tyler looks at him. Josh’s eyes always get to him, dammit. Right now, they’re big and brown and sort of glittering under the moonlight. “You broke out of a dark curse using _love._ Do you know how hard it is to break out of curses man?”

“Yeah? Well you threatened a crazy Death Eater using me as their puppet and accepted that maybe you were going to die, do you know how crazy that is, man?”

“I’d do anything for you. You’re my best friend.” Josh smiles, and Tyler finds himself falling in love all over again. He pushes in and swoops down for a kiss, settling down on top of Josh. Hands grip his waist, Tyler’s own bury in Josh’s wild hair, and for five straight minutes, they’re a mess of hot breaths and moans.

Josh, for once, is yanking at his own tie. “If you wanna do more, you can. Please, actually.”

Tyler’s panting when a toothy grin rises to his lips. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” replies Josh.

Above them, the stars dance.

-

The end of the year feast is always one of Tyler’s favourite things, even if that means he isn’t going to be able to see Josh for a few months. It’s the atmosphere that makes him so happy; everyone celebrates being finished with exams, friends are exchanging contact information and making summer plans, and everything seems alright.

This year, Tyler is especially happy, because Slytherin won the house cup, and the hall is decorated with green and silver. There’s even a large banner of a serpent hanging behind the high table. Tyler couldn’t be prouder; even coming close to death couldn’t stop him from winning.

He catches Josh’s eye right as Professor McGonagall stands up to address the students, and grins when Josh ducks his head.

“What a year it’s been,” her voice is calm and collected, and her smile is big. All of other teachers are grinning as well. “All of you are tremendous and your intelligence is beyond extraordinary. I hope you start next year with just as much enthusiasm as this year contained. Now to address the house cup - in fourth place with three hundred and forty two points is Ravenclaw, in third with four hundred and six points is Hufflepuff, in second with four hundred and sixty four point is Gryffindor, and Slytherin, with four hundred and seventy eight, in first.”

The Slytherin table interrupts McGonagall with loud cheering and stamping; Tyler shouts the loudest and his smile grows bigger when he sees Josh cheering for them.

“Of course, congratulations Slytherin, on an outstanding comeback this year. I do however, have a few more points to hand out, as do a couple of the teachers up here.” The tables break out in murmurs and Tyler’s smile falters. He shares a look of confusion with the rest of the Slytherins. McGonagall continues. “We haven’t had much trouble at this school in quite some time, but this year seemed to be when our luck ran out. I’m sure you’ve heard your fair share of rumours, and this doesn’t happen often, but...” she trails off for a second, looking up at the stars dancing across the bewitched ceiling. “First to Mr. Mark Eshleman for his wit and creativity in saving the lives of three boys, and all with a broken arm, I award fifty points to Ravenclaw.”

The Ravenclaw table breaks out into cheers as Mark’s face turns tomato red. He’s grinning as everyone pats him on the back. Tyler gives a loud cheer for Mark as well.

“Second to Mr. Zack Joseph, for his bravery and maturity in saving his brother’s life, I award fifty points to Gryffindor.” It’s the Gryffindor table’s turn to cheer this time, and Zack’s face turns just as red as Mark’s. For the first time ever, Tyler isn’t jealous of his brother. He’s _proud_ of him.

“Third, to Mr. Joshua Dun, for his determination, confidence, dedication, and courage, I award sixty points to the Hufflepuff house.” The table full of black and yellow explodes into cheers louder than any of the other tables, and Josh buries his head in his arms. Tyler practically jumps up from the table, clapping so hard his hands are sore and screaming so loud his voice is hoarse.

“Professor Longbottom would like to say a few things as well,” McGonagall continues, her smile still strong. The Professor stands up and the room goes silent. Even Josh picks his head up to watch.

“Mr. Dun showed us this year that anyone willing to put in the work can do anything they set their mind to, and his strength, bravery, and kindness has inspired me every day. I would like to award him another sixty points.” Everyone is cheering for the Hufflepuffs this time, with the exception of the Slytherin table, where Tyler is the only one screaming about the fact that they are no longer in the lead. He doesn’t give a damn.

Professor Slughorn stands up next. “Mr. Dun also showed us that the strongest thing in the world, and perhaps the hardest, is to love even when you seem to be down on luck, and for that I would like to award him twenty points.”

Tyler grabs Dan next to him. “Hufflepuff is in the lead, Hufflepuff IS IN THE LEAD!” Dan scowls, and Tyler jumps a good two feet off the ground.

When Slughorn sits down, McGonagall stands back up and clears her throat. “Lastly, to Mr. Tyler Joseph, I award ten points, for showing Hogwarts how important family and friends are here. Congratulations boys on your outstanding achievements.” There is one more collective cheer; The Slytherin table is moody now, obviously angered with the sudden change in events, all besides Tyler, who is shaking with glee. “I believe a change in colour is needed, hmm?” With a clap of her hands, green and silver turns to black and yellow, and for the first time in forever, Josh feels like he matters in the world. It’s the first time in almost eight years that Hufflepuff has won the House Cup.

The banner of the serpent changes into one of a badger, and that night, Tyler leaves his table to feast right next to Josh, smiling as they hold hands under the table.

It is a night both of them know they will never forget.

-

With wardrobes empty, trunks packed, and tearful goodbyes, the boys sixth year at Hogwarts was finally coming to an end. They sit next to each other on the train, with Mark and Zack; Mark spends the whole time exclaiming how excited he is to see a computer again, (“I’m going to spend an entire month editing,” he says giddily,) and Zack asks Tyler if he’ll give him some pointers for Quidditch next year.

“Course I will, but you’ll never beat me,” Tyler winks, and Zack rolls his eyes.

They change out of robes into jeans and t-shirts; Josh is wearing a shirt with a band name on it and he laughs when Tyler asks why on _earth_ anyone would be blinking one hundred and eighty two times. (“Do you do that all at once, or throughout the day? I suppose over time that wouldn’t be hard at all...”)

“I’ve got great news,” Josh says as they wait to leave platform nine and three quarters. “My family is going back over to the states during the summer. New York City. And uhm... they got an extra ticket. Wanted to know if you would possibly wanna come with us.”

Tyler’s eyes grow wide. “What? Seriously?”

“Yeah! I could show you all the weird No-Maj things my family does. We’d be taking a plane to New York-”

Tyler interrupts with his nose crinkled in confusion. “A what?”

Josh grins. “Exactly. And my drumkit! I got a real one now, you’re going to love it.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Tyler!” Zack calls, pointing a thumb behind him, “Dad’s here! Time to go!”

“Just a sec!” Tyler turns back to face Josh and looks him over one last time. And amongst all the people, he makes the decision to lean forward and kiss Josh.

Josh squeaks in surprise, (as he often does,) but melts into the wall behind him, not even caring that there are people all around them. In fact, Josh doesn’t even notice them.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. We can video call later, okay? I’ll send you the details about the trip, my parents wrote letters and stuff, I’m going to show them how to deliver by owl.”

“Good, good, you do that.”

“Tyler come on!” Zack yells again.

Tyler leans in to kiss Josh on the cheek one last time and smiles big. “I’ll see you soon?”

Josh nods. “You’ll see me soon.”

“Good.” And with one more “I love you” from each boy, Tyler joins Zack as they walk through the wall back into the No-Maj train station, where their family stands. Their mother has Maddy in her arms and Jay attached to her leg.

“Busy year boys?” asks their father. Tyler and Zack share a grin.

“You have no idea.”

**Author's Note:**

> Pastelxmess on Tumblr if you wanna chat or prompt me or yell at me or something.


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